Destiny and Fate Part 3: The Final Journey
by Ace Flyheight
Summary: The conclusion to Ace's journey. After the events of Castle Oblivion, his memories were shattered. He has two choices that he can make: He can either work towards remembering his past or look forward to the new life that is spread out before him.
1. Chapter 1 Mysterious Rescuers

(Disclaimer: I'm only going to put the disclaimer on the first chapter here, but what it says, goes for every chapter. The property of Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square-Enix and Disney, but the story and my original characters are owned by me. Now, let's get on with the show.)

**Chapter 1**

**Mysterious Rescuers:**

Ace slowly opened his eyes and the first thing that he saw was a ceiling up above him. He grunted a little as he sat up and noticed that he had been sleeping on a bed before he started to look at the room around him. The room itself was pretty simple, but there weren't very many things in it. As he continued to look around, he noticed the necklace that he had been wearing earlier was laying on a small night table next to the bed along with a first aid kit that was mostly empty and he realized why when he saw the bandages, gauze, and other things laying on the table too as well as on the floor. He picked up the necklace with his hand and then placed it back around his neck. He didn't know why, but that necklace, for whatever reason, felt like it was something special to him. He then looked down at himself and realized what had happened to the rest of the first aid kit; parts of his arms, legs, chest, and even his face were covered in bandages. He then realized something else, his torn and bloody clothes from before were gone. He swung his feet off the bed, slowly and carefully as he looked around the room again; hoping that whoever brought him here at least placed some clothes in the room somewhere. After looking around for a couple of moments, he finally noticed a pile of clothes that had been sitting at the foot of the bed with a note on top of them.

"I guess that if you're reading this note, then you've finally woke up. As for your clothes, they were too damaged to fix so we had to throw them away. Hope that you didn't mind. Well, hope that these clothes fit you. P.S. One other thing, we took your necklace off and laid it on the night table next to the bed." Ace said as he read the note out loud. He looked down at the pile of clothes and then began to sort through the clothes and trying on some of them to see what fit him and what didn't. Eventually he found a combination that he kind of liked and that also fit: A white muscle shirt, a dark red unzipped windbreaker jacket similar to his original one, a pair of blue jeans, a pair of red fingerless gloves, and a pair of black leather boots. He then looked over to his right and saw a door. Ace shrugged his shoulders. He might as well go and try to find whoever it was that had rescued him. He walked over to the door and opened it, but stopped for a moment as his eyes adjusted to the bright sun outside before he took a few more steps outside and closed the door behind him.

As Ace walked outside, he noticed several fairly large tents and other buildings that looked like small bunkers. He walked around some of the bunkers seeing people sitting on everything from crates to barrels just talking with each other and looking like they were trying to relax. He wandered around some more until he found himself in front of fairly large tent and walked inside. Inside the tent, he noticed two people talking with each other. One was a girl who looked about his age that had light brown hair that brushed the top of her shoulders, dark blue eyes that were as calm as the sea even though they seemed to hide a deep hidden fear and even maybe a tinge of sadness, and was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans. The other was a young man with crimson hair that went down to the bottom of his neck and was extremely spiky, had deep brown eyes that seemed to be able to see into Ace's heart and see everything with just a single glance, and was wearing a gray t-shirt with an unzipped dark brown jacket over it and gray knee-length shorts.

The two people looked up from their conversation and looked at Ace for a moment before the young man spoke up. "Hey, I see that you're finally up. You've been asleep for almost four days." The young brown-eyed man said as he took a few steps towards Ace but the girl remained where she was. "Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Dain and the girl over there is Hikari. Do you mind telling me your name?" The young man, Dain, said as he held his hand out for Ace to shake.

"My name's Ace. It's nice to meet you Dain and you too, Hikari." Ace said as he held his hand out as well and shook Dain's. "So Dain, did the two of you bring me here?" He asked after a few seconds.

Dain nodded. "Yeah, I found you unconscious in the desert and brought you back here. But don't give me all the credit, Hikari's the one that's been helping to take care of you since I brought you back." Dain said.

"Well, thanks for finding me and bringing me back here, Dain. And you too, Hikari, thanks a lot for helping him to take care of me these past four days." Ace said as he saw Dain and Hikari both nod, even though Hikari still seemed to keep her distance from Ace.

"Mind answering me one question, Ace? Why were you out in the desert unconscious?" Dain asked.

Ace shrugged a little. "I don't mind at all. I just remember waking up outside some kind of castle and walking down a path that led me to that desert and then I fainted and woke up here. Everything before that point except my name is a complete blank." Ace said as he looked down at the ground for a moment.

Dain put his hand on Ace's shoulder. "You're welcome to stay here for as long as it takes for your memories to come back. I'll make sure that you're treated just like one of the family." Dain said with a small smile as he turned back to Hikari. "Hikari, you go and rest for a while. I can tell that you're still tired from earlier. I can handle everything for a little while." He said with a comforting smile as Hikari nodded and left the tent. After Hikari left, Dain sat down on a crate of supplies and sighed a little before he motioned for Ace to take a seat on a crate near where he was still standing. "I'm sorry if you thought that she didn't like you or something like that since she was keeping her distance from you. She's like that around almost everybody except for me. I'm about the only person that she trusts at all." He said as he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and looking at Ace.

Ace took a seat like Dain motioned him to and shook his head. "No, that thought never did actually occur to me. When I first walked into this tent I could see some kind of a deep hidden fear or something like that behind those calm blue eyes of hers." Ace said as he watched Dain. "But, I do have one question that I would like to ask. Why is she like that? What is that deep hidden fear that I glimpsed in her eyes?" He asked. He didn't know why he was so worried about this girl that he was sure that he had never met before in his entire life even though he still couldn't remember anything.

Dain looked like he was struggling over whether or not to tell Ace what had taken him several years to find out from Hikari herself, but he finally decided after a few moments. "Ace, what I'm about to tell you, you can't tell anybody not even Hikari. She can't find out about what I'm about to say..." Dain said as he stopped for a moment, but then he saw Ace nod and decided to continue on. "...I've never been able to get all of the details out of her, but maybe, it's just because I'm scared that it'll hurt her worse. This is what I do know though. I know that she has some kind of phobia. She's scared to death of getting close to anybody, physically and emotionally. When you get too close to her, she either starts crying and breaks down or she just gets scared and runs away. It took me a few years just to be able to get close enough so that she would talk to me..." He said as he looked down at the ground and a few tears leaked out of his eyes.

Ace got up from his place on the crate and walked over to Dain and placed his hand on Dain's shoulder just as Dain had done for him only a few minutes ago. "Dain, thank you for telling me and I promise, I won't tell anybody that I know about any of what you just said. I really don't know why I'm worried about her, but if there's anyway that I can help either her or anybody else while I'm still here, then I'll do everything in my power to help." Ace said with a slight smile on his face.

Dain looked up at Ace and smiled a little back at him. "Okay then, thanks for your offer Ace. I told somebody that I would help them with something earlier, so I'll see you later. Feel free to wander around the camp some more if you want to. It's just like I told you a few minutes ago, you can think of this place like home until you get your memories back." Dain said as he got up from his seat and left the tent. But then, he suddenly stopped right outside the tent and looked back in at Ace. "And one other thing that I nearly forgot to tell you, if you see anything that's pitch black with yellow eyes anywhere run like heck. Don't just stand looking at it, but run away from it and try to either tell or get the attention of anybody that's here in the camp. Just remember that and please don't forget it." He said before he left for good this time to give Ace time to think over everything that had just happened in probably around the last fifteen, maybe twenty minutes.

"Ok, thanks again for letting me stay here. Um, okay...I don't have a clue about what the heck that black thing with yellow eyes is that you're talking about, but okay, I'll stay away from it." Ace said as he saw Dain leave. After a few moments, he put his head in his hands and just closed his eyes as he thought about everything that had happened so far. _'First, I wake up with no memories except for my name and I end up fainting out in the desert. Then, I end up getting saved and brought here and finally wake up after sleeping for a couple of days. After that, I meet up with these two people, Dain and Hikari and I find out all that stuff about Hikari having problems with some kind of phobia among other things. Well, one good thing though: At least Dain said that I could stay here and hopefully I will get my memories back eventually.' _He thought to himself as he continued to sit on the crate just to relax for a little while.


	2. Chapter 2 The Heartless Attack

**Chapter 2  
**

**The Heartless Attack:**

After a little while of sitting on the crate, Ace realized that he was starting to get a little sore from not moving and decided to go and wander around the camp a little more. He got up from where he had been sitting and walked outside the tent, letting his eyes adjust to the light again somewhat. He kept on walking as soon as his eyes finished adjusting and he began to wander around the camp just like before, glancing at the people talking and laughing, the multiple tents and bunkers, and the infinite desert that lay outside the camp. He walked around for a few minutes before he heard a slight metallic sound and looked down at the necklace that he had been wearing. He had almost completely forgotten about it. He took it off for a moment and examined it a little. He noticed that it had a heart engraved on it with two wings crossed over the heart. He still didn't have a clue why he woke up with this necklace on back at that castle or why this necklace felt so important to him. He had a feeling that it was given to him by someone important to him in the past but right now, he didn't have a clue who that person could have been.

Ace sighed a little as he placed the necklace back around his neck and decided to continue looking around the camp. He suddenly stopped after a few moments because of what he saw in front of him. "That th-thing. Is that what Dain warned me about?" Ace whispered to himself as he stared at a small black creature with some kind of antenna sticking out of its head and glowing yellow eyes.

The small creature glanced around a little until it saw Ace and stared back at him for a few moments, not moving at all. Without any warnings, the creature suddenly moved and leaped towards Ace.

Ace stumbled back for a second as he remembered what Dain told him to do if he saw one of those creatures and barely avoided the creature when it leaped towards him. He struggled to get back on his feet as quick as he could and made a run for it, trying to get away from the creature. He didn't have anything to fight back with and he didn't see anything that he could use as a weapon either, besides that, he couldn't even find anybody to help him. Suddenly, he felt something hit the back of his legs and Ace stumbled as he tried to get his balance back and ended up slamming into a pile of supply crates. He grimaced a little as he landed in a heap against the crates and looked up to see the creature back where he had started stumbling and realized that thing had knocked his legs out from under him. He saw the creature leap at him again and he closed his eyes as soon as he realized that he wouldn't have time to move. But at that exact time, a voice echoed through Ace's mind and shattered memories.

"_**Blazing Angel...Just reach out with your heart and it will appear to aid you."**_

"Wha...Blazing Angel? What is that?" Ace thought but then he decided do what the voice said. He concentrated on that particular word, feeling waves of nostalgia flowing over him as he felt something appear in his hand and he instinctively gripped whatever it was. After a few seconds, he slowly opened his eyes as he realized that he never did feel that creature's claws dig into his skin. As his eyes fully opened, he saw the creature in front of him but it wasn't attacking and wasn't looking at him, it was looking at the object that was now in his hand. He glanced over at his right hand and his eyes went wide when he saw what he had been gripping when he had his eyes closed. It was some kind of giant key-shaped weapon. It had two angel wings on the sides of the handle from the bottom of the handle to the top of the handle and then had two more angel wings that spiraled around each other as well as around the blade itself and stopped at the key part. The weapon then had three smaller, crimson-colored angel wings that protruded from the blade to form a key shape at the tip. "Wha-what kind of weapon is this?" He muttered in disbelief before he shook his head. There was no time to wonder about that weapon now; he actually had a chance to take that creature down. While the creature was still focused on the weapon, Ace swung the weapon in front of him, slicing the creature into two perfect halves that then changed into a dark fog that disappeared after a few seconds.

Ace let out a sigh of relief as he looked around and didn't see any more of those creatures. "That voice, was it from my past? It sounded so familiar and that weapon too. When that weapon appeared in my hand, I felt something. It was almost like a connection to my lost memories. Maybe I wielded that weapon for some reason in my past. Forget it, I'll wonder about it later, I've got to find Dain and tell him about that creature." Ace muttered to himself as he began to search for Dain and eventually found him talking to another person about something. _'That's probably the person that Dain mentioned earlier about having to go and help with something.'_ He thought as he walked up to the two of them. "Dain, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked.

"Hey there Ace. Um, sure. I just got finished doing what I had to leave earlier for." Dain said as the person that he was talking to, thanked him and left. "So, what do you need to talk to me about?" He asked.

"Do you remember those creatures that you were telling me about earlier? Well, let's just say that I got attacked by one a little while ago." Ace said.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that's right. Wait, you were actually attacked by one. Nobody came by to tell me that one had appeared and I didn't hear any screams. What happened?" Dain asked.

"Well, at first I was scared and then ran away but it tackled me into a bunch of crates. After that, I heard a voice that I think was from my lost memories and then I killed that creature, whatever it was." Ace said as he closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on that weapon again. As soon as he opened his eyes again, the weapon had already reappeared in his hand and Dain was staring at the weapon. "This is what I fought back with. That voice called it Blazing Angel or something like that." He said as the weapon disappeared again.

"So that's how. I'm actually surprised. I really never thought that you would be a Keyblader." Dain said.

"Keyblader?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, that weapon that you had was a keyblade so that makes you a Keyblader." Dain said.

"So that was a keyblade..." Ace said more so to himself. "Well thanks for clearing that up for me." He said as he turned around and began to leave.

"Don't mention it." Dain said and was about to say something else when he saw Ace already walking away.

After a little while of walking, Ace finally found the only other person whose name that he knew around here. It was Hikari and she was sitting on a box of crates, watching the sun set.  
_'The sun's already setting? Wow, I guess that today passed by fairly fast but well, I can't forget that a lot's happened too. But as for Hikari, I'm still wondering why she's out here watching the sun set. I hope that she doesn't break down or anything when she sees me here.'_ Ace thought to himself as he walked up a little closer and then stopped. He had made sure that there was still a ton of distance between the two of them so that she hopefully wouldn't freak out or anything. "Hey Hikari. Do you mind if I watch the sunset too?" He asked as he pointed to a stack of crates a short distance away from her.

Hikari looked at Ace with a slight fearful look in her eyes at first, but then when she saw where he wanted to sit and how far away it was from her, she calmed down a little. She nodded a little and went back to watching the sunset.

"Thanks." Ace said as he walked up to the stack of crates that he had pointed to a second ago and sat down on them as he watched the sunset. He closed his eyes for a moment and at that exact time it seemed like a memory was coming back to him, it was foggy but it was definitely a memory.

"_Ace, look at the sunset. It's beautiful, isn't it?"_

_'....But, even the sunset is not beautiful as you, -----.'_

Ace opened his eyes and looked ahead to notice that the sun had just about completely set. _'Those words...That conversation was definitely from my past. I know that whoever that first voice was, it was talking to me...But, who was that first person? It sounded like a girl, but it was so foggy that I couldn't see what she looked like. I wonder...Did I love the girl that was in that memory?'_ Ace wondered to himself as he looked over to his left and saw that Hikari was starting to look like she was sleepy. He got up from where he had been sitting on the crates and turned to look at Hikari for a moment. "Hikari, you might want to go to bed and catch up on some sleep. You look like you're really tired. It's just a suggestion though, feel free to stay here as long as you like, I guess." He said as he saw nod even though she didn't look as fearful as she did earlier anymore. He smiled a little at her as he walked off, headed back towards the bunker where the room was that he had been sleeping in for the last couple of days.

Eventually, Ace made it back to the bunker and he went inside, closing the door behind him and just fell on the bed. He guessed that it was from everything that had happened, but he was just ready to fall asleep. The last thoughts that crossed his mind as he began to fall asleep were only two things: the mysterious girl from his past and Hikari.


	3. Chapter 3 The Storm Arrives

**Chapter 3**

**The Storm Arrives:**

Screams and yells rang out all over the camp as Ace suddenly jumped out of his bed as soon as the noises reached his ears. "Wh-What's going on?" Ace asked out loud as he rushed outside to see that several of the tents had been ripped to pieces and multiple numbers of that black creature from yesterday were everywhere in sight. He quickly ducked as he heard something behind him and saw one of those creature's claws strike the space where his head had been. He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on that keyblade or whatever it was called, again. Suddenly the weapon appeared in his hand as he opened his eyes and swung the weapon behind him, slicing the creature in half. He stood up looking around at all the destruction. "Dain. Hikari. Where are they?" He whispered to himself as he saw all of the people that had been just chatting with each other yesterday, now trying to fight back against those creatures while wielding weapons that looked similar to the keyblade that he wielded.

Ace shook his head a little and took off in search of those two. He didn't have time to wonder why everybody else seemed to have the same kind of weapon as he did. Another of those creatures jumped in front of him and he sliced it in half just like the last one as he continued running. After a little while, he eventually found Dain, whom was completely surrounded by those creatures. "Need some help Dain?" Ace asked as he knocked several of the creatures away with a single swing and stopped with his back to Dain's and his keyblade pointed at the creatures. "Any clue about what in the heck is going on?" He asked as he stared the creatures down for a moment.

"Ace, thank god that you're still alive. We've already had several people killed by these Heartless. As for what's going on, let's just say that we haven't had a Heartless attack this strong before...I wonder, is your heart attracting them Ace?" Dain replied to Ace even though the last few words came out more like a mere whisper as the Heartless finally charged the two of them from all sides.

"So those things are called Heartless. What was that, Dain? I couldn't hear-whoa!" Ace said as he barely dodged one Heartless' claw before he retaliated with a swing of Blazing Angel that eviscerated the Heartless.

"I'll tell you later. We've got to push the Heartless out of the camp first." Dain said as he stabbed his keyblade straight forward and through two Heartless that were in front of him.

"Well good luck with that. It sure looks like we're going to need a lot of luck on our side to win." Ace said as he realized that he was fighting as if he really knew what he was doing. Well that confirmed it; he was definitely some kind of warrior before he lost his memories. He suddenly stabbed forward, the keyblade burying itself into a Heartless and then swung it to the left, knocking several of the creatures away.

Dain laughed a little. "Yeah well, it sure doesn't look lucky for us right now. But, let's start pushing them back anyway. I'll take the ones on my left; you handle the ones on your left. That'll at least give us some breathing room." Dain said as he and Ace both suddenly ran in opposite directions.

Ace followed Dain's plan, if that's what it could be called, and began fighting the Heartless that were now in front of him. After a few seconds of fighting, he noticed that the remaining Heartless were beginning to split into two groups to fight Dain and him. It looked like Dain's plan was working. Now, they might actually have a better chance at winning with those creatures split into two smaller groups. After several long minutes that seemed more like hours, the two groups of Heartless were almost completely wiped out finally. There was only two Heartless left, which were then quickly sliced apart at the same time by both Ace and Dain.

After seeing that there were no more Heartless, Ace wiped his hand across his face to get rid of some of the sweat. "Hopefully that's all of them." Ace said as he breathed a little harder than normal from the stressful fight.

Dain shook his head. "Thanks for your help, but we're not done yet. I got a feeling that everybody else is probably still fighting. Let's split up and try to find anybody that still needs help." Dain said as he saw Ace nod back at him and the two of them went their separate ways into the battlefield that was their camp.

As Ace raced through the camp he noticed that there were keyblades similar to his and the ones that everyone had been wielding earlier, laying strewn out across the ground in multiple places with blood stains on the ground but no bodies. _'Okay, this is starting to get seriously creepy.'_ Ace thought as he continued running, looking for anybody that needed help. Eventually he was confronted by a small group of Heartless. He quickly took out several of them but received a deep gash down his left arm from one. He gasped in pain for a moment before he killed the Heartless. "Darn it, that really stung." He muttered as he saw some blood dripping out of the wound but then he realized just how much of the camp he still hadn't been to, to look for survivors. He took it off again and eventually began to find a few survivors and helped them fend off the Heartless.

'_That makes at least ten survivors that I've seen. But, I haven't seen Hikari yet...I hope that she's not...Stop it Ace! Instead of thinking and worrying about her, you should be trying to find her.'_ Ace thought as he took off in the only direction that he hadn't been to yet. After a few minutes of long searching he finally found her, but it wasn't like he hoped it would be. He saw Hikari laying on the ground unconscious in a small pool of blood, surrounded by a group of Heartless. "Don't you dare get any closer to her! She's already been through enough before you monsters came along!" He yelled at the Heartless as their eyes came up from staring at Hikari to staring into Ace's eyes that were now closer to a stormy ocean than a calm one.

He saw a few Heartless seem to take a step back, but then every single one of them charged straight for him. As the first one reached him, he kicked it so hard that it flew backwards and knocked down several of the other Heartless. He then ducked as a claw went over his head and he stabbed his keyblade straight up, killing the Heartless. He then noticed the other ones recovering from being knocked down and jumped towards him. He blocked one claw with the side of the keyblade and knocked the Heartless up into the air as he sliced another one in half. He then swung the keyblade behind him without even turning around and heard the weapon cut clean through another of the creatures. At that exact time, the Heartless that had been sent flying up into the air was beginning to fall back down directly on top of Ace. He pointed the keyblade straight up above his head and the Heartless ended up impaling itself on the blade. He then allowed the keyblade to disappear as he looked around and didn't see any more Heartless anywhere nearby.

He rushed over to Hikari and kneeled down on the ground next to her to get a better look at her injuries. There were deep bloody gashes visible on her arms and several lacerations and cuts on her face as well as several bloody rips on her blue jeans. "Please let her be okay." Ace whispered to himself as he tried to see if she still had a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief after a moment as he felt a pulse. It was faint and weak but it was a pulse. "Thank goodness Hikari. You're still alive." He whispered in relief as he bent down some more and began to pick her up in his arms. _'Even though she is hurt so bad, I'm actually a little relieved that she's not awake right now. If she was, I doubt that I would be able to get her any kind of medical attention without Dain's help. I just hope that she doesn't wake up until after I leave her in Dain's care.'_ He thought to himself as he got back on his feet with Hikari cradled in his arms.

He began to race back through the camp, searching for Dain just in case Hikari woke up. Finally, he saw Dain just ahead of him and called out to him.

Dain turned around as he heard his name being called and saw Ace carrying Hikari. "Oh my god...What happened?" Dain asked as he saw the injuries on Hikari's body.

"I'll tell you later. We need to get her medical attention first." Ace said as he saw Dain nod and followed Dain towards the nearest small bunker that contained medical supplies. After a few minutes of running, they finally reached a medical bunker and they went inside. Ace noticed a bed near the wall and walked over to it. He stopped when he got to the bed and softly lay Hikari's still unconscious body down on the bed. He then straightened back up and walked over to Dain, whom was searching for a first aid kit. "Need some help?" He asked as he began to go ahead and help Dain look for at least one first aid kit.

Eventually they found several kits and Ace gave all of them to Dain. "Dain, I'm going to trust you to take care of her injuries because if I was to be the one working on her injuries and she happened to wake up, I seriously doubt that I would end up being very much help at all. I think that if she was awake, then she would rather you do it than me. You've been with her for several years and she trusts you. And, well, look at me. I've only been here a few days and I'm sure as heck that she doesn't trust me at all yet." Ace said as he began to leave the tent but suddenly stopped as he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see that Dain had his hand on Ace's shoulder.

Dain shook his head a little as he saw Ace look at him. "I understand what you're saying. And I know that it would be better if I happened to be taking care of her injuries when she wakes up. But you were the one who saved her. I think that she would want you to work on her injuries, not me. I wasn't the one who played the role of a knight in shining armor who saved the damsel in distress. You played that role perfectly earlier. And besides, when I talked to her last night...She told me that she was still too scared to be near you, but when I went back to check up on her after she fell asleep, I saw a tiny smile on her face and she looked almost peaceful in her sleep. I haven't seen a smile on her face nor have I seen her go a full night without a single nightmare since I met her all those years ago. I don't know what you did after I left you alone yesterday, but whatever you did, thank you. Now, I'm going to trust you to take care of her, Ace." Dain said as he put all of the first aid kits in Ace's hands and walked past Ace and out into the remains of the camp.

"But, wait...But, all I did yesterday was just ask if I could watch the sunset and then I gave her that suggestion about her looking sleepy and needing to catch up on sleep." Ace muttered to himself as he opened up one of the first aid kits and took out the contents as he began to work on the deep gashes on Hikari's arms since they looked the worse. Ace grimaced a little each time that Hikari softly cried out in pain in her sleep. He knew that part of the reason why she kept crying out was because of him trying his best to tend to her injuries, but he didn't have a clue about the rest of the reason. He just hoped that she wouldn't wake up before he was finished and that maybe he could get Dain in here to be with her when she woke up. He continued on with the work and was able to eventually get the wounds on her arms disinfected and bandaged. He breathed a little sigh of relief as he noticed that she was still asleep even though she still softly cried out in pain from time to time.

He then decided that he might as well get started on the cuts on her legs. Just as he was reaching for the disinfectant among other things from the first aid kit, he stopped as he realized something. _'But, wait a second...If I'm going to be able to disinfect and bandage the injuries on her legs, then I'm going to have to actually take her jeans off. Please Hikari, for my sake, don't wake up right now.'_ Ace thought to himself as he gulped a little. He reached down and unzipped the zipper on Hikari's blue jeans and slowly pulled the jeans off of her and placed the jeans on the floor next to him. His whole face turned bright red from blushing when he saw her underwear and he took a deep breath as he tried to keep his concentration on the job at hand and applied the disinfectant lightly to the cuts and then carefully bandaged the cuts, being extremely careful to not wake her up. If she woke up, he didn't have a clue how he was going to be able to explain that he was only bandaging her wounds before she would freak out or something. While he was still working on her legs, he noticed tons of scars on her legs that looked like they had been there for at least a couple of years. The scars were all over her legs and he wondered what had happened for her to have gotten that many scars somehow. He finally finished bandaging her leg wounds and began to put her blue jeans back on her and then finally zipped the zipper up.

Ace let out a sigh of relief as he realized that she still hadn't woke up yet. At least he didn't have to worry about trying to explain that the reason that her jeans were off was because he was bandaging them. He then grabbed another first aid kit after he realized that he had used up the disinfectant and bandages in the first one. He took out what he needed from the first aid kit and began to apply the disinfectant to Hikari's face and he grimaced a little when he heard her soft cries of pain from the disinfectant being applied to the lacerations on her face. "Hikari, I'm really sorry this hurts so much. I know that you probably can't hear me since you're asleep, but I'm almost finished tending to your injuries. As soon as I get done, I'll let you sleep as long as you need to without disturbing you, I promise." Ace whispered to Hikari as he continued to apply disinfectant and then the bandages once he was finished disinfecting the lacerations.

He wiped some sweat off his face as soon as he finished with the bandages and breathed another sigh of relief. He was just about to get up from where he had been sitting while tending to Hikari's wounds when he saw Hikari's eyes open a little and notice him.

As Hikari opened her eyes, she groggily began to look around a little, trying to get rid of the fogginess in her eyes and then she noticed Ace sitting next to the bed that she seemed to be laying on. Her eyes opened a little wider and she began to try to slide herself across the bed further away from Ace.

Ace saw Hikari trying to slide across the bed to get some more distance between the two of them. "Hikari, please stop moving. I don't want your injuries to open back up or anything." Ace pleaded as he saw her shake her head no. He sighed a little as he got up from his seat and took a few steps back from the bed. "Okay, if you won't listen then I'll just move instead. Like that, they'll still be plenty of distance between us but you won't have to strain yourself to try to move away from me anymore." He said with a tired smile as he took a few more steps back just in case but then just stood there watching Hikari for a reaction.

Hikari heard what Ace said and she looked a little shocked at what he said, but she didn't move anymore.

Ace noticed that she didn't move anymore and little bit of relief appeared in his eyes. "I'm going to go see Dain for a little while. Please just rest for a little while Hikari, I really don't want to see you hurt yourself right now." Ace said as he began to turn around, even though he could have sworn that there was the slightest hint of a smile on her face. He began to walk away and smiled a little to himself even though Hikari couldn't see it as he walked out of the small bunker to go and search for Dain.


	4. Chapter 4 Funeral Farewell

**Chapter 4**

**Funeral Farewell:**

As Ace began to search for Dain, he noticed people collecting the keyblades that he saw were still scattered everywhere. He began to wonder why they were collecting the bloodied keyblades, but then he stopped wondering as he saw Dain in distance. "Dain!" Ace called out as he waved his hand in the air and ran up to Dain.

"Ace, it's you. Well, how's Hikari doing? Is she all right?" Dain asked as he bent down to pick up another keyblade that was near his feet.

"She's okay, thank goodness. I'm no medic for sure, but I think that her worst injuries were just those gashes on her arms." Ace said as he looked at the keyblades that were in Dain's arms. "Oh and other thing, there's something that I've been wondering about. Why is everybody picking up those bloody keyblades that have been laying around everywhere." He asked as he saw Dain lower his head for a moment.

"That's good news. As for why we're picking up all of these keyblades...They're the last mementos of those that died. That battle earlier today, around half of everybody here died. Like you already know, the Heartless took us by surprise and killed a good many of us before anybody could even retaliate. We're just trying to prepare for a final farewell later today." Dain said as he looked back up with tears visible in the corners of his eyes.

"...So, that's what all this is about...Dain, since there's still keyblades that haven't been collected yet, I'm going to help gather them up." Ace said as he turned around and left without saying another word. His eyes were watering a little as he realized that all that blood from earlier was from those that had been killed by those monsters. He started to gather up the keyblades that he could find and eventually found all the keyblades that he could carry and followed the rest of the survivors back to the center of the camp where the keyblades were being stabbed into the ground in rows, almost acting like grave markers if there actually were any bodies to bury. He stabbed each of the keyblades that he had collected at the end of the closest row and stepped back a few times to get a better glimpse at just how many keyblades were there in front of him. His eyes widened a little as he noticed that there must have been thirty if not more keyblades left behind by those that had died.

At that exact moment, a hand patted Ace on the shoulder. "As keyblade wielders, this is the kind of life that we have to live. We have to keep on fighting until the day that we die because the Heartless will always be attracted to the keyblade that each one of us wield. And to make matters worse, once you 'awaken', you can never separate yourself from the keyblade. It's always a part of you, in the best way and the worst way." Dain said as he looked at the thirty or more bloodied keyblades but had to look away after a second. "Ace, you stay here. Everybody else should gather here sometime soon for the farewell. I'm going to go and see if Hikari might be able to make it out here." He said as he turned around and left, leaving Ace alone with the weapons that had robbed each of them a chance at a normal life.

Ace looked at the keyblades for just a moment before he straightened his arm out and saw his keyblade, Blazing Angel, appear once again in a burst of light. He shook his head for a moment as he tossed the keyblade away, but then saw it reappear in his hand once again. "I guess that Dain was right, you really can't get rid of this weapon." Ace said as he willed the keyblade to disappear from his hand and he breathed a silent prayer to the souls that had once wielded the weapons that were in front of him.

After a few minutes, Ace heard footsteps behind him and he turned around to see who it was. It turned out to be Hikari and Dain walking towards him. Hikari seemed to be having a little trouble, but seemed to actually be moving pretty well considering the injuries from before and Dain was walking alongside her just in case she lost her balance or anything. He waved to Dain and Hikari and saw Dain wave back even though Hikari just kind of looked off to the side, trying to keep from looking Ace in the eye. As he saw the two of them get closer, he began to hear other footsteps and saw the other survivors beginning to gather as well.

After a short while, all of the survivors had finally arrived and were prepared to say one last farewell to those that died. Ace watched as each person kneeled in front of the rows of keyblades and said their final goodbyes, some people trying to keep from crying and others who just couldn't hold back their tears at all. Eventually, everyone finished saying their farewells except for Dain, Hikari, and Ace.

Dain walked up to the rows of keyblades and kneeled before them. "All of you, thank you for doing everything that you could to keep the rest of us safe. I wish that we could have somehow known about that attack, but it's too late for regrets now. No matter what I say that I wish had happened, nobody can change the harsh cold truth of what happened today. We'll never forget any of you, that's a promise that will never be broken by any of us." Dain said as he got back up on his feet and walked back to Hikari and Ace with his head down the entire way back.

As soon as Dain reached them, Hikari walked past him to say her final farewell. She grimaced a little from her injuries as she kneeled in front of the keyblades. She put her head down a little and whispered a silent prayer and a soft farewell that was too low to be heard from anybody but herself and those that had already passed on. After a few moments, she got back up and walked back to the crowd and stood near Dain.

Ace noticed Hikari come back and saw Dain motion for him to go on and say his farewell too. He didn't know why Dain wanted him to give a final farewell to the dead because it wasn't as if he actually even so much as knew their names. After a few seconds, he nodded his head a little and walked up to the keyblades and kneeled in front of them. "I really don't know what to say. I never was close to any of you and I didn't know a single one of your names. In a sense, all of you were strangers to me but at the same time were like a second family to me. I'm glad that even though I didn't know any of you, I still felt like I could trust each one of you with my life. We'll all honor Dain's promise to never forget any of you, but I have a second promise that I want to make. From now on, no matter what happens, I will not let a single person standing here die before I do. I've seen enough death in one day to equal a lifetime and I don't want to go through a second funeral like this. I swear that I will not break that promise no matter what happens." Ace said, wiping tears from his eyes as he stood up and walked back to the crowd as everybody looked at him after the promise that he made, even Hikari. As he took his place near Dain, he felt Dain's hand on his shoulder again. He looked over at Dain and saw what looked like a cross between pain because of losing so many friends but at the same time, hope and confidence for what lay ahead of them after what Ace had said during his farewell.

At that exact moment, the sky began to grow cloudier and rain drops began to pour down on the camp and mingle with the sorrowful tears of the survivors. It was almost as if the sky itself was weeping for those that had died. As it continued to rain, the blood and dirt that was caked on the keyblades began to wash off and the mementos began to almost look as if they were brand new.

After a few more minutes, the crowd began to disperse until at last only Hikari, Dain, and Ace were alone. "Hikari, Dain...I'm sorry about what happened earlier. If I'd woken up even just as little as a few minutes earlier, maybe I could have helped to save a lot more. Like I swore back there in front of their keyblades, I won't let anybody else die." Ace said as he turned to leave and began to walk off. He really just wanted to be alone right now after what happened earlier.

Dain was about to say something when Ace began to walk off, but he decided that Ace probably really did need to be alone to think about what had happened. He looked over to his left and noticed Hikari take a few steps forward, almost as if she wanted to follow Ace but then she suddenly stopped. A small smile crossed his lips as he realized that Hikari might really be opening up to Ace just like she did to him.

After a short while of walking, Ace finally reached a place that was quiet and peaceful. As he sat down on a stack of crates, he realized that this was the exact same place that he watched the sunset yesterday with Hikari. He smiled a little to himself as he glanced out at the barren desert, but then his expression began to turn a little sorrowful.

"_Ace!"_

"_Close the door now!"_

"_I won't do that Ace."_

"_You have to close the door, trust me."_

"_Ace, we'll get you back somehow I promise."_

Ace looked down at the ground for a moment as he closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on the memory that he just remembered. "Another memory...There were three voices, one was mine, another sounded like the girl's voice from the other memory, and the third one sounded like a male voice around my age or so. I wonder what exactly happened. There was some kind of door and I wanted that other boy to close it fast, but why? Why did everybody's voices sound so stressed and strained? Just who were those two people? Especially that girl, she really seemed to care about me." Ace muttered to himself as he tried to see if he could remember anything else but sighed after a few moments as he realized that he couldn't remember anything else. He opened his eyes after a few moments and saw Hikari watching him from the same stack of crates that she had been sitting on yesterday. He thought that he saw a hint of concern in her eyes but he really couldn't tell. He smiled a little. "Hey Hikari, I never expected to see you back out here." He said as he looked ahead of him and realized that the sun was setting just like yesterday. "Let me guess: you come out here to watch the sunset every day instead of yesterday being the only day. That's why you came out here, isn't it?" He asked, not really expecting an answer from Hikari.

Hikari nodded a little before shaking her head and then pointed at Ace. Before she even got a reply back from Ace, she turned around a little and stared at the sunset.

Ace's eyes widened a little as he saw her point at him before she turned towards the sunset. _'Me?...I guess that she really was concerned about how I was doing, but why? Why is she worried about me? She was so scared of me yesterday as well as earlier today, why is she so concerned about me?'_ Ace wondered to himself as he decided to just watch the sunset as well and not ask Hikari quite yet. He had a feeling that she still wouldn't talk to him, no matter what he said.


	5. Chapter 5 Fragments of Hope

**Chapter 5**

**Fragments of Hope:**

After the sun had finally set, Ace had left without saying a word to Hikari and had headed back to his bunker once again to catch up on some sleep. It has been a couple of months since the funeral and it's been mostly peaceful. No more Heartless attacks since that pain filled day and reconstruction on the camp was nearly finished.

Ace let out a small yawn as he helped Dain hold up a steel beam while two other people welded the ends to keep it from falling.

Dain looked over at Ace as he heard him yawn. "So Ace, have a hard time sleeping last night or something?" Dain asked as he continued to hold the beam up.

A small, tired smile crossed Ace's face as he nodded a little. "Yeah, I haven't really been sleeping well for the past couple of months ever since I first woke up here without any memories. More and more of my memories have been coming back to me and I've been trying to sort them all out. I'll be able to rest easier once I can actually get all these memories sorted out." Ace said as he thought about something. "Where's Hikari? I haven't seen her all day. I thought that she might be the one helping you since you're actually close to her, but I haven't seen her anywhere." He asked, wondering about why he hadn't seen Hikari all day.

Dain looked down at the ground for a moment. "It's because...today's the day that we met and she decided to join up with all of us." Dain said.

Ace looked at Dain, confused as to why he was looking so sad. "Well, isn't that good? If she never met up with you guys, then she would have never opened up to you, like you told me before." Ace said, still confused.

Dain shook his head a little. "No, that's not it. That was the good part. The bad part is how we met and what happened at that time. I found her lying out in the desert covered in blood and in shock among other things. I found out later that she and her parents had been attacked by the Heartless and that the blood that she was covered in was actually the blood of her parents from when they were trying to protect her. I think that event is what caused her to have such a bad phobia as she does now. I know that she had that phobia a long time before then, but I think that's what actually pushed her so far...That was almost five years ago. I still can't believe that it's been only five years since that day. Because of that, she always heads out into the desert early in the morning and never comes back until right before the sun sets. I'm pretty sure that she goes back to that same spot where I found her those five years ago." Dain said as he saw that the beam had been welded into place and he let go of it.

Ace looked down at the ground for a moment as he let go of the beam as well. "My god, Hikari...She was probably only eleven or twelve when that happened. I never knew exactly what she went through..." Ace muttered to himself as he realized that there were people like Hikari who were a lot worse off than he was. Losing his memories was nothing compared to what he had just heard about Hikari's past.

Dain thought about something for a moment as he wiped away a few tears that had formed at the edges of his eyes. "Ace, instead of worrying about what I just told you, go and find her. I've got a feeling that she probably wants you there with her on a day like this even though she probably won't act like it. We can take care of all of the reconstruction here while you go and find Hikari. And before you even say that you don't have a clue where the spot is where her parents died, let me finish. I know that you've seen Hikari sitting on a stack of crates and watching the sunset every evening. Head out into the desert from that stack of crates and you'll be able to see her after running for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Now, hurry up and go." Dain said, a tired smile visible on his face.

"D-Dain...Wouldn't it be better for you to go? You're closer to her than I'll ever be---" Ace began as he was cut off by Dain.

"No, you're wrong about that. You've already made progress with her in the last few months that took me years. Don't try to tell me that it would be better for me to go. She might know me better and trust me more because I've been there for her longer, but she has already placed more of her trust in you than you know. She would want you to be there for her right now. Trust me on that." Dain said.

Ace wanted to say something else, but he decided that he might as well do what Dain said. "Okay Dain. I'll go find her. I still think that you should be the one to go after her instead of me though." Ace said as he turned around and began to run to catch up with Hikari.

Dain watched Ace run away to catch up with Hikari and smiled a little to himself. "At first I was actually kind of jealous of you, Ace. You became closer to her in just a matter of months compared to the couple of years that it took me. I wish you nothing but good luck. Consider it my gift to the both of you." Dain said as he stared off towards the desert and noticed Ace still running off into the distance.

Ace sneezed a little as he continued running. "Um okay, I wonder if I'm coming down with something. Probably not though." Ace said to himself as he saw somebody in the distance. "Hopefully, that's Hikari." He whispered to himself as he got closer and could tell that the figure was a girl and that she was on the ground kneeling almost as if in prayer. _'Definitely Hikari.'_ He thought to himself as stopped about ten feet from Hikari and just stood there silently, waiting for her to finish praying and see him.

Hikari opened her eyes and began to get up when she saw Ace standing a short distance away from her. She locked eyes with Ace but didn't take a single step back from him like she would have before. She wondered why he was out here but she still remained as silent as ever.

"Sorry if I scared you. Dain told me about what happened to you on this day all those years ago and I just wanted to well, um, make sure that you were okay. And no, I didn't think that you were weak for a single moment when I rushed out here to find you. It's just that we all sometimes need another person there for us on days like this and well, um, that's why I came out here." Ace said, stumbling for words for a few seconds as he realized that he really didn't know exactly what to say to Hikari.

A small smile appeared on Hikari's face as she listened to what Ace said. Her eyes even appeared to have even less fear in them and more of a calmness than before even though she still didn't say a single word.

Ace smiled a little back. "From the look on your face, I guess that's a yes that you're okay. But, by the looks of it, I've got a feeling that this is going to be another one-sided conversation." Ace said as he saw Hikari turn away a little. "No, no, I didn't mean it like that. I don't have any problems with being the only one talking. I know you don't open up very easily to people and I'm fine with that. That's why I don't have any problems with being the only one talking nor being around you in silence." He said as he saw Hikari turn back around and look at him. "In a way, I actually admire you and consider you luckier than me. Almost all of my past is forgotten and I can barely remember any of it all. I can't remember anybody that was ever a friend to me nor even my parents. In that regard, you're lucky that even though what happened all those years ago was horrible, at least you can remember your parents and everybody that you knew. If you really tried, you could persevere and strive for tomorrow, but in my case all I can do is be tied to my lost past. Because of that, I can't even look at tomorrow, let alone strive for it, at least not until I've gotten my memories back. I really admire you because of that, unlike me, you can look towards the future while I'm chained to the past. Right now, that's something that you can do that I can't do." He said as a hint of sadness crept into his eyes but he continued to smile.

Hikari stood there, not believing what she just heard from Ace. The look in her eyes changed ever so slightly from calmness to something that could only be described as a combination of happiness and sympathy. She really wanted to tell Ace what she really thought of what he said or at least walk closer to him, but she couldn't bring herself to do either one, no matter how much she wanted to.

Ace could have sworn that he saw the look in Hikari's eyes change, but then something else caught his eye. "Hikari, look behind you. The sun's setting." Ace said as he finally realized that it was actually time for the sun to set.

Hikari heard what Ace said and turned around to notice that the sun actually was setting.

The two of them watched the sun slowly set in complete and mutual silence. After a few minutes, the sun had finally completely disappeared below the horizon and Ace yawned a little. "Hikari, I'm going to head back to the camp and catch up on some sleep. You can come back whenever you're ready to." Ace said as he turned around and began to leave.

Hikari noticed Ace turn around and leave. She stood there watching his back as he continued to walk off. When she could barely see him anymore, three simple words escaped her lips. "...Thank you Ace..." Hikari whispered as she saw him disappear into the distance. She smiled a little to herself and began to head back to camp as well.


	6. Chapter 6 Feelings Awakened in Battle

**Chapter 6**

**Feelings Awakened In Battle:**

Ace was still sound asleep when a voice suddenly screamed for him to wake up.

"Ace! Wake up and get out here! Hurry up!" A voice yelled urgently from somewhere outside the bunker that Ace had begun to call his own.

"Wha-What's going on?" Ace muttered to himself as he quickly jumped out of bed and got into his clothes. He grabbed his necklace, placing it around his neck as he ran outside. As soon as he was outside, he looked around but didn't see anything wrong in sight but then noticed a person standing near the corner of his vision. He turned to face the person and saw that the person was sweating and seemed to be worried about something. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"Dain asked me to come and find you. We've sighted Heartless in the desert and they seem to be headed this way. We're trying to gather everybody together at the main bunker to help keep those monsters out of the camp this time." The person said, still trying to catch their breath.

'_More of those things? It's taken us this long just to rebuild after that last massacre.' _Ace thought to himself as he nodded. "Okay, thanks for telling me. I'll head over there now and join up with everyone else. You go and make sure that nobody else is still sleeping or anything." He said as he saw the person run off. "I'd better hurry up too." He muttered as he ran in the opposite direction towards the main bunker.

After a few minutes, Ace eventually found himself in front of the door to the main bunker and he placed his hand on the door handle as he prepared to open it but stopped. _'...But, what if this time ends up being just like last time...No, I can't think like that. Last time that we were attacked, they surprised us inside the camp, this time we spotted them first and they're not even here yet. Plus, I swore after last time to never allow another person to die before I do. And I swore that I would never break that promise. I can't let myself think negative at a time like this, I have to believe that we'll make it out of this without anymore casualties.'_ Ace thought to himself as he pushed down on the handle and opened the door.

"Ace, you're finally here." Dain said as he motioned for Ace to join everybody else in the center of the room.

"Sorry I took so long. I heard something about Heartless headed towards here, but I still don't know all the details." Ace said as he took a few steps closer to the people that were huddled in the center of the room and noticed that almost everybody had already been gathered. He then noticed Hikari beside Dain and tried to put a confident smile on his face even though he still felt half-asleep.

"Don't worry about that. As for the Heartless, one of the patrols came back almost a full hour ago saying that they saw Heartless out in the desert headed towards the camp. Once everybody's here, we're going to leave the camp and confront those creatures. They won't catch us by surprise this time." Dain said as he saw a few more people walk inside the room that was now being used as a briefing room. "Right on time. Well, time to head into battle just like last time. But, this time no one dies." He said as he headed out first and everybody else began to walk out behind him, including Ace and Hikari.

After a short while, they all made it out into the desert and could see the black waves of Heartless in the distance. Ace gulped a little, but did what he could to keep up his confidence just like everyone else. He looked over and noticed a small glimpse of fear in Hikari's eyes as she watched the waves of Heartless coming closer. "Hikari, don't be scared. They're only Heartless and I promise you that there's no way that we can lose." Ace said, the confident smile from before still visible on his face.

Hikari smiled back a little as she nodded and summoned her keyblade to her hand.

Ace nodded back and summoned his keyblade, Blazing Angel, to his hand as well. That made two promises that he had to keep now and there was no way that he was going to break either one. He looked to his left and then his right, seeing keybladers on both sides summoning their weapons to their hands.

Dain watched as the Heartless came closer and closer to the keybladers, waiting until they were close enough for a charge. "Okay everybody, here they come. Let's all show them exactly what keybladers can do when they are prepared to fight and never give up." Dain said as he summoned his keyblade and everybody gripped their weapons tighter as they all began a charge into the oncoming waves of Heartless.

"Here goes nothing." Ace muttered to himself, running alongside everyone else towards the Heartless.

After a matter of seconds the entire remaining force of keybladers had reached the first wave of Heartless and began their attack. Ace slashed away a Heartless that had jumped in front of him and began his fight against all Heartless that ended up being in his way just like everyone else was. He sliced a second one in half and did a half-spin, dismembering one behind him. He then jumped backwards to avoid being slashed by a pair of claws and tossed the keyblade like a boomerang. He watched the keyblade swing through the air, killing multiple Heartless and then caught it as soon as it came back towards him. He then blocked a pair of claws from hitting him and retaliated with his own strike, killing the creature.

After what felt like hours, the keybladers were beginning to run low on stamina but the waves of Heartless were growing smaller and smaller. But somehow, so far not a single keyblader's life had been taken by the Heartless yet. "Crap." Ace mumbled under his breath as he was knocked forward by a Heartless that had rammed his back. He turned in mid air and fell to the ground on his back and saw a Heartless right above him, prepared to kill him. He quickly stabbed the creature with Blazing Angel and then rolled out of the way of a second pair of claws and retaliated with another slash. He got back on his feet and started gasping a little bit for breath. He was seriously starting to get worn out. He looked around and noticed Dain, Hikari, and everyone else still fighting, even though they were beginning to tire out just like him. At least there weren't too many Heartless left now compared to how many there were originally. He continued to fight back against the creatures for a little while longer. After a few more minutes, Ace's vision began to blur a little from how worn out his body had already become and his reaction time began to slow down a little. He sliced another Heartless in front of him and then grimaced as he felt a pair of claws rip down his left arm. He swung the keyblade around as best as he could once again with his right hand, taking out the Heartless that had slashed him. He then looked down at his arm and grimaced again as he saw a huge gash down most of his arm and saw the blood pouring out of it. It didn't look as if it would be fatal as long as he could get it wrapped up before he died of blood loss. His vision blurred a little again as he felt himself knocked onto the ground again. He suddenly let out a blood-curdling scream as he felt a Heartless step on his severely injured left arm and nearly crush the bones.

Every keyblader froze in their steps and looked over at the spot where Ace's scream had come from, but they only saw a pitch black mass of Heartless on top of Ace's body. After hearing the scream, Hikari looked over and saw Ace's body and her eyes widened in shock. "Ace!" Hikari screamed, her voice echoing around the entire battlefield and breaking the silence that had fallen on it.

Suddenly, the entire black mass of Heartless disappeared in the blink of an eye as each one was sliced apart and dismembered in an instant. Right there in the midst of where just seconds before had been a huge mass of Heartless, Ace now stood stumbling and trying to regain his balance. A pitch black aura had become visible for just a moment as the Heartless were killed instantly, but then it began to fade away before anybody realized that the black aura had been surrounding Ace.

The remaining Heartless began to disappear into black portals as the keybladers all turned their attention to the spot where Ace was now stumbling. He grinned a little as he looked around, even though it was obvious that he was in great pain. "I guess that I kept my promise after all, nobody died. And Hikari, your voice...That's the first time that I've ever heard you talk..." Ace said, his eyes closing as he fell backwards and hit the ground hard on his back as he fainted.

Dain and Hikari both dismissed their keyblades as they rushed over to where Ace had collapsed. They both reached Ace and Dain checked Ace's pulse before breathing a sigh of relief.

"He's still alive, but we need to get him back to the medical tent for that arm injury. We need to stop the blood from flowing out and bandage it soon." Dain said as he picked up Ace and noticed that Hikari still looked worried about Ace. "Hikari, since you're faster than me, go back to the medical tent and get the supplies out and get everything set up. I'll be right behind you with Ace." He said as he saw Hikari nod and head back to camp. Dain started running a little slower than her partially because he was carrying Ace and partially because she really was faster than him.

After a short while, Dain finally reached the medical tent and noticed that Hikari had already set everything up. He walked over and laid Ace down on the nearest bed and began to look through the supplies that Hikari had set up to see what he needed first. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for and began to disinfectant Ace's arm even though he was grimacing in pain the entire time and began to bandage the arm afterwards.

Hikari watched while Dain worked on Ace's arm and hoped that Ace would be okay. "Ace is going to be okay, right Dain?" Hikari asked as she saw Ace grimacing in pain, even in his sleep.

Dain stopped what he was doing and looked up at Hikari for a second. "Of course he's going to be okay. I don't think that he's ready to die quite yet and I'm not prepared to let him to die either." Dain said with a smile on his face. "Besides that, he really cares about you. He really wants to help you get over that phobia of yours and by the looks of it, he's already done a good job so far. I can't even remember how long it took me to get you to say anything to me." He said as he laughed a little and then turned serious again as he continued to bandage Ace's arm.

Hikari sat down on one of the crates as she heard what Dain said, but didn't seem as surprised about it as Dain thought that she would be. "I kind of had a feeling that he cared about me for a while now. He always had a habit of just appearing at the most unexpected moments and even though it did kind of freak me out at first, I actually started liking having him around. But then, the few times that I felt that he was too close and I tried to get some extra distance between the two of us, he would just tell me that he would move instead. And yeah, I noticed that he was trying to help me get over it. I gradually started relaxing around him somewhat and got to the point where I wasn't scared to be around him anymore." Hikari said as she looked at Ace and kept her eyes on him for a moment. "I really appreciate everything that he's done for me so far. I care about him too, but I don't know if I could ever say it to him. And Dain, I'm sorry that I'm not helping you with Ace's injuries right now, but..." She said as she looked up at Dain and saw him nod.

Dain smiled a little. "Don't worry about something like that. I'm sure that Ace wouldn't mind not being able to find out that you really care about him as long as he could continue to be around you. I'm sure that you'll be able to tell him when you're ready to, that's what counts." Dain said as he then shook his head. "I know, you still can't bring yourself to actually physically touch him yet, no matter how much you want to. Don't be sorry about something like that, it's not your fault. Besides, I'm finally finished bandaging his arm, even though he's going to have to wear it in a sling for a while until those bones reform completely." He said as he moved Ace's injured left arm onto the top of his chest and then constructed a crude sling from some of the supplies. He then slipped the sling around Ace's neck and then slid his injured arm into the sling so that he wouldn't accidentally hurt it worse when he woke up. "I think that he's about to wake up." He said as he noticed that Ace was moving a little bit and then began to groan a little.

Ace began to groan a little in his sleep from the pain and slowly opened his eyes groggily to see Hikari and Dain standing near the bed that he was laying on. "Dain...Hikari...I guess that I'm not dead then." Ace said as he smiled a little even though it hurt to do it.

Hikari and Dain both smiled back at Ace in relief and nearly laughed a little at what he said. "Ace, you're okay." Hikari said as a few tears glistened in her eyes but she quickly wiped them away.

Dain looked over at Hikari. "I told you that Ace wasn't ready to die yet." Dain said as he turned his attention back to Ace. "How are you feeling? Besides of course, the fact that you went and nearly got yourself killed." He asked.

"Yep, like Dain said. I'm not ready to die yet and I'm not planning on it anytime soon. And kind of, I guess, my left arm is killing me like nothing else, but that's pretty much it." Ace said as he grunted a little and sat up on the bed, examining the sling that his arm was now in.

"You might want to take it easy for a little while. It's going to take that arm a while to fully heal because you had a couple of broken bones in it from those Heartless." Dain said, noticing the slight pain in Ace's eyes as he saw him sit up on the bed.

Ace nodded a little. "I know and I'm going to go easy on my arm since I can't use it for a while, but the rest of my body should still be okay to use." Ace said as he stood up and walked around for a few seconds to get the soreness out of his legs. He then realized how dark it looked outside the tent and looked back at Hikari. "It looks like the sun's already set. Sorry about making you miss it, Hikari." He said.

Hikari shook her head. "It's really not a problem Ace. I'm just glad that you're okay. I'd rather have you okay than watch the sunset alone." Hikari said as she tried not to look Ace in the eyes.

Dain smiled a little to himself as he heard what Hikari said. "Ace, Hikari, I'm going to go and check up on everybody else. I'll see you two later." Dain said as he turned around and left the medical tent.

"Okay Dain, see you later." Ace said as he saw Dain leave the tent. He then turned back towards Hikari and noticed that she looked as if she wanted to say something. "Something wrong, Hikari?" He asked.

Hikari shook her head. "No, I was just thinking about a few things." Hikari said as she realized that she was actually talking to Ace right now almost like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh okay." Ace said as he thought about something for a second. "Earlier, when we were fighting against the Heartless and you yelled my name...Your voice, it was beautiful, Hikari." He said.

Hikari looked away for a few seconds as she heard what Ace said. "Ace...my voice isn't any different from anybody else's." Hikari said.

Ace sighed a little to himself. "Maybe not to you, but it definitely is to me. But, at any rate, I'm glad that you started talking to me. I really am." Ace said as he smiled a little.

"I'm glad too, Ace. It's because of you that I'm even talking right now." Hikari said as she yawned a little.

Ace nodded a little and then noticed Hikari yawn a little. "It's starting to get late and we've been through a lot today. Let's go and catch up on some sleep, okay? I'll see you tomorrow." Ace said as he began to walk away.

Hikari nodded back at Ace. "Sure, I'm starting to feel a little tired. And fine with me, we'll both see each other tomorrow." Hikari said as she saw Ace wave back at her with his good arm and then leave the tent.

After a short while of walking, Ace finally made it back to his bunker and went inside. As he lay down on his bed, he tried to move his left arm out of habit and gasped in pain for a second. "Crap, I almost forgot about that stupid injury. I guess that I'm going to have to get used to using only my right arm for a while." Ace said as he put his right arm behind his head and stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes as what Hikari said earlier kept playing over and over in his head. _'What did she mean when she told me that she would rather have me okay than watch the sunset alone? I really don't have a clue if she really cares about me or not. What she said then and when she yelled my name earlier...Maybe she does care about me, or maybe...just forget it, I'm starting to go around in circles. She was probably just worried about me like she would be about anybody else, there's really no reason that she should care about me. All I've done for her since I got here was just help her with that phobia somewhat and bandage her wounds after that first Heartless attack. That's all, nothing really major or noteworthy or anything like that.'_ He thought to himself as he closed his eyes and decided to try to go to sleep so that he could hopefully stop thinking so much.


	7. Chapter 7 Confusion of the Heart

**Chapter 7**

**Confusion of the Heart:**

"_Ace? Ace!"_

"_Come on Ace, please be okay. You can't die on me, not like this. Please, oh god, please be okay."_

"_Sarah, I'm glad that I was able to meet you."_

"_Tai, please do as I asked and take care of Sarah for me."_

"_Don't worry Ace; I'll take care of her. That's a promise."_

"_Sarah, please don't cry."_

"_Ace, please don't leave me. Not now, not after everything that's happened. You can't...you just...you just can't leave like this after all that's happened...I know that you're stronger than this..."_

"_I'm sorry, but I'll always be with you. Whenever you want to see me, just close your eyes and imagine me. I promise that I'll be there then."_

"_Sarah, I should have told you this when we first met each other on our island right there on the beach...I...I lo...love...you..."_

* * *

"_It's okay and I'm sorry too. Even though you have to admit, thinking about it now, it was kind of funny."_

"_Now that you say it, yeah it was kind of funny. But also, thanks for comforting me last night until I fell asleep."_

"_You don't have to thank me, Sarah. I'm just glad that I could comfort you."_

"_Um, did you really mean it, you know, when you told me that you loved me before you disappeared?"_

"_Sarah...Of course I did. I meant every word of it. There's no reason that I would have lied to you about something like that."_

"_I had a feeling that you truly did mean it and I guess that I was right. And even though you probably couldn't hear me...I really did mean it as well when I told you that I loved you too."_

"_Sarah...I...I'm glad to hear that."_

"_I'm sorry about what you probably had to go through after, well back there in the cas---."_

"_Don't worry about that. You did what you had to do to save me and for that I'm glad. I could never be mad at you for doing something like that for me."_

"_Thanks."._

"_You're welcome and I want you to have this."_

"_But this is the necklace that you told me before that it was the last reminder that you had of your grandfather."_

"_I know..."_

"_But why Sarah? I can't take this. It's always been so dear to you. It's not mine to have."_

"_No Ace, I want you to have it. I'm...I'm giving it to you not only because it is said that the necklace can help those in need, but also because it symbolizes the bond between our hearts."_

Ace woke up suddenly, sweat pouring off of him as he looked around his bunker for a moment. His breathing began to slow down after a few seconds and he began to try to relax as he tried to sort out everything that he had just remembered. He closed his eyes for a second and took in a deep breath for a moment, before letting it back out and opened his eyes back up. "So, um, I actually somehow died sometime in the past and got brought back to life. I knew somebody that went by the name of Tai. And that girl from those other memories, Sarah, the one that told me that she loved me and gave me that necklace... I really told her that I loved her?" Ace whispered as he looked at the necklace that he was still wearing. He shook his head after a few moments and slowly got up from the bed, wincing in slight discomfort as he remembered about his arm. "There's so much that I really don't know about myself, about my past. But right now, I've got to concentrate on the present as much as I can...I just wish that I could strive for tomorrow like I told Hikari that she could do if she really tried to." He said to himself as he messed up his hair a little and left the bunker, hoping for some way to get his mind off of the memories that he had just remembered.

After a couple of minutes of wandering around, Ace stopped as he heard his name called from behind him. He turned around and saw Hikari walk up to him and stop a short distance away.

"Hey Ace, I guess that you decided to sleep in for a little while today. Oh and also, is your arm doing any better?" Hikari asked as she smiled a little.

Ace smiled back a little. "Oh, hey Hikari." Ace said as he realized that he really must have slept in for a while longer than he normally did because it was already noon. He nodded a little. "It still hurts like everything and I have to stop myself from moving it out of habit, but I do think that it's actually a little bit better than it was yesterday." He said.

"That's good. I really hope that arm heals soon." Hikari said.

Ace nodded a little. "Yeah, me too." Ace said as he looked up at the cloudless sky for a moment and wondered if he should mention about the memories that he had remembered earlier. "Um, Hikari, there's something that I probably need to tell you...Actually on second thought, just forget it. It wasn't anything important." He said as he saw down on a crate that was nearby.

Hikari looked confused for a moment. "Are you sure?" Hikari asked as she sat down on a crate next to the one that Ace was sitting on.

"I'm sure. It wasn't a big deal or anything, so it doesn't really matter anyway." Ace said as he remembered what he told that girl, Sarah, in those memories. He really didn't know what to say. He wanted to tell Hikari about the memories that he had woke up with, but there was something that was keeping him from saying it. _'...Why can't anything just be simple and why can't I even bring myself to just tell her about those memories?'_ He wondered to himself as he shook his head a little.

Hikari noticed Ace shake his head a little as if to clear his thoughts. "Something is bothering you, isn't it? You were lying when you said that it wasn't a big deal, weren't you?" Hikari asked.

Ace tried to smile a little, but gave up after a second or two. "Hikari, it's not your problem. Don't worry about it. It's just something to do with a few more memories that came back to me while I was sleeping last night, that's all. I told you that it wasn't a big deal." Ace said.

"It's still a big deal to me. You've helped me so much since you came here, now I want to try to help you if I can." Hikari said, hoping that he would tell her why a few simple memories seemed to be bothering him so much.

"Hikari...thanks, but it's something that I have to try to figure out on my own." Ace said, smiling a little.

Hikari sighed a little and then nodded. "Okay, but still...if there's anyway that I can help, let me, okay?" Hikari asked.

Ace nodded a little. "Sure. But you really don't have to help me out whenever I need it just because I did the same for you." Ace said.

"I know, but it's more than that. I want to help you because of that and because...because..." Hikari said as she seemed to struggle with what to say. "...because you're my friend." She continued as a smile appeared on her face even though she looked down at the ground and closed her eyes.

"Hikari..." Ace whispered as he reached over towards her to place his right hand on her shoulder because he didn't know why she moved her gaze away from him and closed her eyes, completely forgetting about her phobia.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me, you monsters! Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" Hikari shrieked as her eyes opened suddenly and she swung her arms around for a second, accidentally scratching Ace's face in the process with her fingernails. After swinging her arms around for a few seconds, she lost her balance on the crate and fell off of it, landing on the ground and began to cry.

"Hikari!" Ace yelled as he realized what he had done. He was so stupid, he had completely forgotten. _'You idiot Ace! How could you forget about something like that? Look what you did!'_ He yelled at himself in his mind, mentally kicking himself for what he had done. He felt several small streams of blood trickling down his face from when Hikari scratched him, but he didn't care about that right now. He was more worried about Hikari. He got down on the ground as quick as he could, ignoring the pain in his left arm from the sudden movement. "Hikari. Hikari. Hikari. Listen to me, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I didn't mean...Please Hikari, stop crying and look at me. Please." He pleaded as he saw Hikari slowly stop crying somewhat and look up at him with a look of fearfulness that scared Ace. "Hikari, I'm so sorry. I'm such an idiot." He said as he noticed that the look in Hikari's eyes was starting to fade little by little.

Hikari slowly shook her head as the scared look in her eyes continued to fade. She slowly stood back up, trembling somewhat as she sat back down on the crate. "Y-You're not an idiot Ace...I know that you're sorry and didn't mean to...So, don't beat yourself up over it." Hikari said as she tried to get her nerves under control and her body began to slowly start shaking less and less.

"No, I really was an idiot. I completely forgot about that stupid phobia." Ace muttered as he hoped that Hikari was okay now.

Hikari shook her head faster now. "No, quit saying that you were an idiot. Just quit saying it, please." Hikari said as she finally calmed down some more.

Ace nodded and decided not to say anything else right now, at least not until he was sure that Hikari was back to being her normal self.

After a few minutes of silence, Hikari finally got her nerves back under control and her breathing returned to normal. She looked up at Ace and noticed the bleeding scratches on his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scratch you." Hikari said.

Ace shook his head. "I know you didn't mean to. It's not a problem. Just a couple of scratches and they'll heal anyway." Ace said.

Hikari nodded and then sighed a little. "Dain never did tell you why I'm so scared of being touched by anybody, did he?" Hikari asked as she saw Ace shake his head. "No surprise, I made him promise not to tell anyone. Though I do know that Dain told you about how he and I met all those years ago. You already know that he found me covered in my parents' blood and that they had died protecting me from the Heartless. But, what you don't know is what happened between the time that my parents died and when Dain found me. After my parents died, those monsters...they—they..." She said, stumbling for words for a moment. "...Just look for yourself." She said as she rolled up her pants' legs so that Ace could see the multitude of scars that he had seen before when he had to tend to her wounds in that first Heartless attack. After a few moments, she rolled the pants' legs back down and pulled her shirt up just enough to reveal many more scars on the lower part of her stomach. "And that's only the beginning of what they did to me, Ace. I was almost wishing for death when Dain found me and killed those Heartless." She said, almost crying at the memory as she pulled her shirt back down.

'_Hikari...oh my god...I never knew. I just thought that your parents were killed and then you were rescued by Dain. I never knew what happened between those two events.' _Ace thought to himself as his own eyes nearly misted over with tears as he realized exactly what Hikari had been through. "Hikari, I'm so sorry. I never knew exactly what happened all those years ago. If there's anything at all that I can do, please tell me." He said.

"You've already done more for me than even Dain every did and thank you for all that, but please...at least until I'm finally able to conquer my phobia, just don't ever touch me again, Ace. I'm sorry, but please promise me that." Hikari said as she looked into Ace's eyes and somehow knew that Ace would keep that promise if at all possible.

Ace nodded and a small, comforting smile appeared on his face. "I promise." Ace said, even though it hurt him to promise something like that.

Hikari smiled a little back at Ace. "Thank you." Hikari said as she looked up at the sky for a moment. "Ace, I hope that you don't mind, but could you please just leave me by myself for a little while?" She asked.

Ace was confused for a moment, trying to figure out why Hikari wanted him to leave, but then he realized why and nodded his head. "Sure, and about earlier, I'm still sorry." Ace said as he got up from the crate that he had been sitting on and began to walk away.

"I know that you are but just don't start saying that you're an idiot again, Ace." Hikari said as she saw Ace still walking away.

Ace stopped for a moment as he heard what Hikari said and nodded his head before he resumed walking away. After a few minutes of walking away, he began to just wander around the camp while giving Hikari some time to herself. _'Hikari...I really was being an idiot, there's no denying that, but...maybe I was beating myself up a little too much or maybe not. I guess that it doesn't really matter which one though. But, well I hope that you'll really be okay soon. I know that you wanted to be alone just to try to calm down and get over the shock. That was why you wanted me to leave.' _Ace thought to himself as he continued to wander around aimlessly.

"Hey Ace, where's Hikari? She told me earlier that she was going to go find you so that she could talk to you." A voice asked from somewhere behind Ace.

"Hey there Dain. Um, we got finished talking a few minutes ago and well, she wanted to spend a little time by herself so I left." Ace said as he turned around and saw Dain standing there. He wondered if he should have mentioned about what actually happened, but he decided to not say anything about that since he hadn't had to lie yet.

Dain nodded a little and laughed a little at what he thought the reason why Hikari wanted to spend time by herself probably was. He then noticed that Ace was looking at him a little weird, probably wondering why he was laughing. "I was just laughing at something that I just now remembered that was kind of funny." Dain said as he suddenly became more serious when he caught a glimpse of something deep in Ace's eyes. "You weren't telling me the whole truth a moment ago, were you? What really happened between you and Hikari earlier?" He asked, trying to figure out what he saw in Ace's eyes. It seemed to be a mixture of pain and regret. He really hoped that Ace hadn't done what he was worried that he had done.

Ace shook his head. "No, I didn't tell you everything. But don't worry, I didn't hurt her..." Ace said as a twinge of sadness appeared in his eyes for a moment as he turned his head to the side a little. "...Actually, I'm afraid that I did. I forgot about her phobia for just one stupid second and I placed my hand on her shoulder...Well, she freaked out bad, but she recovered after a few minutes." He said, still not looking at Dain.

Dain was shocked for a few seconds as he heard what Ace said and then noticed the fingernail scratches on Ace's face. He sighed a little as he shook his head. At least it wasn't what he was worried about, even though this wasn't much better at all. "Well, you didn't mean to and that's what counts. I'll go and check up on her. In the meantime, go and bandage those scratches." Dain said as he turned around and began to leave.

"Wait Dain. There's something else that I need to say before you leave." Ace said as he saw Dain stop and look back at him. "About Hikari...She told me the rest of what really happened that day when you found her. I-I saw her scars and I know the rest." He said, a few tears visible in his eyes as he remembered what Hikari said when she showed him the scars. "...I just thought that you should know that she told me." He finished, wiping the tears away.

"I'm sorry that you had to find out about that." Dain said as he began walking off again, but didn't stop to look back this time.

Ace watched Dain leave and then he sighed a little to himself. He hoped that Hikari was already back to her normal self, but even if she wasn't, he was sure that Dain would get her back to being her normal self pretty fast. He then remembered about the scratches and decided to take Dain's advice. He walked around for a few minutes until he arrived at the medical tent and went inside to look around for a first-aid kit.

After a few minutes of searching, Ace finally found a first-aid kit and started bandaging the scratches on his face. He had a little bit of trouble trying to apply the disinfectant among other things because of only being able to use his right arm, but he finally finished eventually. He put the left over supplies back in the first-aid kit and left the tent. "I wonder...maybe Hikari's back to herself by now." Ace said to himself as he headed back towards where he had left Hikari earlier.

Eventually Ace found Hikari talking to Dain in the same place that she was before. He noticed that she seemed to be laughing at something that Dain said. _'It looks like she's back to her old self now.'_ Ace thought as he smiled a little and began walking towards them.

Hikari saw Ace walking towards her and Dain. She looked away for a moment, but then she turned back towards Ace and smiled at him.

Dain noticed Ace as well and he slowly got up from his seat next to Hikari, but then he bent back down close to Hikari's ear. "Don't forget what I told you and just trust in Ace." Dain whispered into her ear as he stood up. "I'll see you two later." He said as he began to walk away but stopped right before he passed Ace. "Believe in Hikari, she's not nearly as fragile and vulnerable as you think she is, even considering what happened earlier." He whispered as he continued walking past Ace.

Ace turned around a little as he heard Dain's whispered words to him, but he saw that Dain had already walked around the corner and disappeared from sight. He turned back towards Hikari and resumed walking towards the crates where she was sitting. "About earlier...How are you doing?" Ace asked as he sat down on a nearby crate.

"I'm all right now. Everything's okay." Hikari said as she smiled a little.

"I'm glad." Ace said as he breathed out a sigh of relief and leaned back on the crate a little bit to glimpse the blue sky for a few moments. He really didn't know anything else to say right now.


	8. Chapter 8 Trust and Believe

**Chapter 8**

**Trust and Believe:**

"Ace! Hikari!" Dain yelled as he ran towards the crates where Ace and Hikari had still been sitting for the last hour or so, just enjoying the blue sky.

"Dain, what's wrong?" Ace asked as he noticed that Dain was out of breath, probably from running.

"It's the Heartless again. It looks like they really want to try to finish us off soon. They've never attacked two days in a row before." Dain said as he stopped for a moment to catch his breath. "Just like yesterday, they're out in the desert headed towards the camp. I've already told everybody else to meet up with us outside the camp." He continued. He then noticed about Ace's arm and remembered the incident from yesterday. "Ace, actually, it would probably be better if you stayed here. We don't need you to get injured again or worse since your arm still hasn't healed." He said.

Ace shook his head. "I'm not staying here. I'm going. It's only my left arm that's injured; I can still fight with my right." Ace said.

"Ace, are you sure? I don't want to see you hurt like you were yesterday again." Hikari asked, a hint of concern visible in her dark blue eyes.

Ace nodded. "I'm sure. And don't worry, I won't let them catch me off-guard again like yesterday." Ace said as he smiled a little at Hikari.

"Okay then, let's hurry and catch up with everybody else." Dain said as he rushed off towards the edge of the camp, closely followed by Ace and Hikari.

After a few minutes of running, the three of them eventually met up with the rest of the keybladers outside the camp. "The plan is pretty much the same as yesterday. Keep those monsters from reaching the camp and try to push them back." Dain said, looking around at all the keybladers. "Now, let's head out!" He yelled as a slight smile appeared on his face and summoned his keyblade, Demon's Requiem to his hand. He was going to make sure that those monsters would feel the kind of pain that could be wrought by the requiem of a demon.

"Right behind you." Ace said, summoning Blazing Angel to his good hand. He had a feeling that people thought of him as a guardian angel, but right now he had to be an angel of death and blaze a path through the Heartless that lay ahead of him. He wondered about how he was going to be able to concentrate on the battle and on not injuring his left arm again at the same time, but then he just pushed the thoughts away. He couldn't worry about something like that right now. He looked over to his left and saw Hikari summon her keyblade and smile at him a little. He nodded and began rushing forward out into the desert along with every other remaining keyblader.

After a few long minutes, they finally reached the Heartless and the actual battle itself began. The Heartless seemed much more powerful this time, but it was probably just because that it seemed like there were more kinds of Heartless this time. Ace dodged a slash from a Heartless that was wielding some kind of sword that seemed to protrude from its arm and retaliated with his on slash that broke through the sword as well as the Heartless itself. He then turned around quickly and blocked a sword strike from another Heartless before he retaliated with a slash that shatter the sword and then followed it up with another slash that sliced the Heartless in half. He tried to catch his breath for a moment and wiped some sweat off of his face with his right arm. He was actually starting to get a little worn out, but it was probably just because he was having to fight with one arm and not both. He hadn't thought about the fact that he could only use one arm right now would wear him out as much as it already had. He then heard something slice through the air behind him and he rolled to the side out of instinct. As he rolled away, he nearly bit his tongue trying to keep from screaming as his left arm, still in its sling hit the ground hard as he tried to get out of the roll. "Crap, that was stupid." He muttered as he got back to his feet and came face to face with a Heartless that wielded a lance and was prepared to skewer him. He blinked just for a second and barely moved his head just enough to the right so that the lance just barely sliced across his cheek and then knocked the lance away with a sideways slash followed by a second horizontal slash that split the Heartless in two. "Too close." He muttered as he felt a few droplets of blood flow down the side of his face.

While Ace was taking care of his share of the Heartless, Hikari was doing likewise, but she was actually doing better. She rolled out of the way of a thunder spell and saw the thunder strike the ground where she had been only moments ago. She raised her keyblade, Angel's Tear, and knocked the magic-casting Heartless away with a quick strike. There was no way that she was ever going to let those monsters touch her again after what they did all those years ago. She was going to make sure that they felt the pain and tears of the once pure angel that they stained. She then spun around and dismembered a Heartless that had been prepared to sink its claws into her back. "Not this time." Hikari muttered as she watched the Heartless fade away into a dark mist.

After several more minutes of fighting, Ace was starting to get worn down even more, but he also seemed to be adapting somewhat at only being able to fight with one arm. As he sliced through another Heartless, he suddenly ducked and saw a fire spell sail through the air where his head had been and strike another Heartless a short distance away. He turned around and sliced the Heartless before it could cast another spell, but he hadn't noticed that another Heartless had began preparing to cast another fire spell as soon as he turned his back.

Hikari saw Ace kill the Heartless that had cast a fire spell, but she also saw a second Heartless preparing to cast a fire spell at Ace now that his back was exposed to it. She knew that he hadn't realized that there was a Heartless behind him, prepared to cast another spell at him. "Ace, move!" Hikari yelled as she ran towards Ace. She saw him look at her and saw him start moving but he was still in the way. She reached him at the same time as the Heartless finally cast the spell. She forced herself to shove Ace completely out of the way, trying to keep herself from breaking down in the process from the physical contact. After she got him out of the way, she tried to jump out of the way of the spell and avoided most of it. Her brown shoulder length hair was singed some as well as the back of her t-shirt though, but she was able to avoid any actual injuries.

After Hikari had shoved Ace out of the way of the spell, he had landed on the ground and barely avoided landing on his arm again. He looked up and saw Hikari jump out of the way as the fire spell sailed past. "Hikari, are you okay?" Ace asked as he got back up on his feet and sliced through the Heartless before he ran over to where she was standing after she had jumped out of the way.

Hikari nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. I dodged most of that attack so it didn't really hurt much at all." Hikari said as she glanced away and took a deep breath, still trying to make sure that she wouldn't break down from touching Ace just moments ago. After a few seconds, she looked Ace in the eyes and smiled a little. "There's still tons of Heartless left. We'd better get back started helping to get rid of them." She said.

Ace smiled a little and remembered what Dain whispered to him earlier. "Right, let's take them out and win this fight." Ace said as he sliced a Heartless that had gotten too close and noticed that the Heartless had already begun to thin out like always. If they could hold out just a little longer, then they could probably finish off the remaining Heartless pretty soon.

After fighting for a little while longer, the Heartless were pretty much gone except for a few remaining spell-casting Heartless. Ace dodged a blizzard spell and ended up fighting near Hikari once again as he suddenly felt the ground under him shaking. "Wha-What's going on?" Ace asked as he looked up to see one of the Heartless casting a new spell.

Suddenly the ground under Ace and Hikari shattered, causing a crevice to appear under their feet in which they fell into.

"Ace! Hikari!" Dain yelled as he saw Ace and Hikari fall into the crevice. He ran over to the crevice as quickly as he could and looked down into it, but it was so dark that he couldn't even see either one of them. He then remembered about the remaining Heartless and readied himself to take down the remaining ones that were left. He'd do everything that he could to get Ace and Hikari out of that crevice, but that would have to wait until they finished off all of these Heartless.

As they were falling into the crevice, Ace realized that they were falling fast and that the eventual impact against the bottom of the crevice definitely wouldn't tickle. He knew that he had to try to cushion their fall somewhat, but then he remembered what Hikari made him promise earlier. He didn't want to break that promise, but he knew that he didn't have a choice. "Hikari, please just trust me." Ace whispered, even though he doubted that Hikari could actually hear him as he made his way over to where she was falling. He put his right arm around her as best as he could and prepared to try to at least cushion Hikari's fall with his body.

As Hikari felt Ace's arm wrap around her, she freaked out somewhat and started trying to shake him off and flailed around for a few seconds before she remembered what Dain had whispered to her earlier. She began to slowly calm down and decided to trust Ace. She closed her eyes and prepared to feel the ground hit both of them soon enough.

Ace grimaced in pain as he felt Hikari try to shake him off, but then he smiled a little in relief as he felt her calm down and saw her close her eyes. He then let out a yelp of pain as he felt his body crash against the bottom of the crevice. He felt himself nearly black out from the pain, but he forced his body to stay awake as he realized that his right arm wasn't around Hikari anymore. He looked over to his left and saw her on the ground, dazed a little but quickly starting to come to. He forced his body up into a sitting position and felt a few quick shocks of pain throughout his body. It didn't feel as if he broke any bones, but he was almost certain that he had fractured at least a few bones. He looked over at Hikari and noticed that she looked like was completely out of her dazed state. He smiled at her a little as he tried to shift his body a little to lessen the pain somewhat. "You okay?" Ace asked.

Hikari shook her head a little to get rid of the last little bit of the daze that she had felt when they hit the ground and looked around. She saw Ace sit up near her and ask her if she was okay. She smiled back at him a little. "Just a little sore from the impact, but I'm fine besides that." Hikari said as she tried to get into a sitting position and was able to after a few seconds without very much pain at all. She looked at Ace again and noticed that he seemed to be in pain more than she was. "Ace, are you hurt bad?" She asked.

Ace shook his head. "Not too bad, I think that I might have a fractured a couple of bones, but definitely no broken bones." Ace said as he tried to see the top of the crevice, but he couldn't. He thought that he could see a tiny pinpoint of light up above them somewhere, but even if there was, there was no way that they could climb all the way back up there. He then looked back over at Hikari and remembered about what he did before they hit the bottom of the crevice. "Hikari, I'm sorry that I broke my promise. I told you that I wouldn't touch you again and I just did. I'm sorry." He said.

Hikari shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I'm glad that you broke that promise. If you didn't try to cushion our fall with your body, I could have ended up paralyzed or dead or worse. You possibly saved my life when you did that. I'm the one that should be sorry about making you promise something like that in the first place. When you put your arm around me while we were falling, I was struggling against you, but then I stopped struggling and decided to just trust you. I realized that you were trying to protect me, that's why I decided to trust you." Hikari said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"...Hikari...I guess that you're right. Thanks." Ace said as he decided to try and see if he could actually stand up. He nearly made it to his feet before he gasped from a sudden shock of pain and he fell back to the cold hard floor. He grimaced as he got back into a sitting position and saw Hikari looking at him worriedly. "Maybe that wasn't exactly the best idea." He said, trying to grin a little. He must've fractured his right foot and probably sprained his left foot somewhat as well. His legs and back felt like they were just heavily bruised all over.

"I think that you're right about that." Hikari said as she got up on her feet, grunting a little in the process, but not having any problems otherwise. She was sure that she had bruised multiple parts of her body and possibly sprained something, but nothing like what had happened to Ace. She started walking over to where Ace was and kneeled down close to him. She gulped a little as she realized the kind of situation that they were in. There was no way that either one of them could climb back up that crevice and it was kind of doubtful that Dain and everybody else would be able to get down here to bring them back up. She looked around for a second. They were definitely in some sort of underground cave. She felt a slight gust of air and realized that it wasn't coming from the crevice above them but from a tunnel to their right. There had to be an opening back to the surface somewhere else at the other end of that tunnel. If they could make it to that other opening, then they could make it out of here and make their way back to camp. The only problem was that Ace wouldn't be able to walk there by himself, not with the kind of injuries that he had. She would have to help him all the way out of here and then back to camp.

Ace watched Hikari walk over to him and kneel down near where he was sitting. Since Hikari was much closer now than before, he was able to actually make out some bruises starting to appear on her arms as well as the after-effects from when she pushed him out of the way of that fire spell earlier. He noticed that the back of her t-shirt was burnt in multiple areas and that her hair had been singed off somewhat so that it was shorter than its original shoulder-length. "Hikari...um, sorry about your hair." Ace said as he realized that Hikari actually looked a lot cuter with her hair shorter.

Hikari brought her hand up to her hair and realized that the back only reached down to the bottom of her neck compared to less than an hour earlier when it had reached down to her shoulders. "Oh, yeah, I guess that I never even noticed it until you mentioned it just now." Hikari said as she tried to wind a few strands of her hair around her finger but realized that she couldn't do it like she could before.

"Actually, I think that you look cuter like that." Ace said, trying to keep from blushing.

Hikari blushed a little as she heard what Ace said, but then she smiled a little. "Thanks. Maybe I do actually look cuter." Hikari said, still smiling at Ace. "Ace, let's go ahead and start trying to find a way out of here before Dain and everybody else get even more worried about us." She said as she stood back up and offered Ace her hand. "Take my hand so we can start getting out of here." She added after a moment. She didn't know if she might break down later but right now she didn't care. All she cared about right now was getting the both of them out of here safely. She wanted to do what she could to show Ace her thanks for protecting her from the fall.

Ace saw Hikari offer him her hand and his eyes went wide for just a moment. "Hikari, I can't take your hand. Remember what happened both of the other two times that I touched you? I know that you're still not over your phobia and if you try to help me out of here, then it could make things worse." Ace said.

Hikari shook her head and looked into Ace's cloudy blue eyes with her oceanic ones. "Don't worry about my phobia. Just believe in me, Ace. I'm not going to break down this time. I'm going to help you out of here and get us both back to the camp." Hikari said, still holding her hand out.

Ace was completely silent for a couple of seconds before he smiled and nodded. "I believe in you. Now, let's get out of here." Ace said as he took her hand and let her help pull him up from the ground. He then felt Hikari put her arm around him to keep him steady and he let his right arm rest around her neck as they both grunted a little.

"Ready?" Hikari asked.

Ace nodded. "Ready." Ace said, smiling a little.

Hikari smiled back a little as the two of them began their slow journey through the series of caves under the desert, guided by the gust of air that she had felt before.

After a few hours of walking, the two of them finally felt the cave beginning to become a little bit steeper and more powerful gusts of air were beginning to wisp past them. "Hikari, let's stop and rest for a moment to catch our breath." Ace said.

Hikari nodded a little. "Sure." Hikari said as she helped Ace to sit down on the cold ground and she took a seat next to him.

Ace grimaced a little in pain as Hikari helped him down onto the ground, but then he smiled a little as he felt the gusts of air blowing past them becoming stronger. "It looks like we're getting closer to the surface." Ace mentioned.

Hikari smiled a little as well. "I think that you're right. It can't be too much farther." Hikari said as she shivered for a moment as she felt the gusts of air come in contact with her sweat covered skin.

Ace saw Hikari shiver and began to try to take his jacket off. He had a feeling that he'd probably regret it later since he was only wearing a white muscle shirt under the jacket. He finally pulled his jacket off of his right arm and stopped for a moment as he remembered that his left arm was in a sling. He mentally shrugged and slowly pushed his arm out of the sling, taking it out of the jacket as well. He laid the jacket next to his feet for a just a moment as he put his left arm back in the sling, grimacing from the discomfort the entire time. "Hikari, here you go. Take it." Ace said as he picked the jacket back up and offered it to her.

While Ace had been taking his jacket off, Hikari had drifted off into her own thoughts but then she suddenly looked over at Ace as she heard him call her name. She saw the jacket that he was offering her and she shook her head. "Keep it Ace, I'll be fine. I'm not really cold right now. Even if it's not much, this t-shirt that I'm wearing is warmer than your muscle shirt so just keep your jacket." Hikari said as she saw Ace shake his head and look into her eyes.

"No. I saw you shivering just a moment ago. I'm not cold yet, so I don't really have a good reason to wear it right now." Said Ace as he smiled a little and continued to offer the jacket to Hikari.

Hikari shivered a few more times as the cool air continued to hit her still sweat-covered skin. "Okay, I'll take it. But, as soon as you start shivering, I'm going to give it back to you." Hikari said as she reached her hand out and grabbed part of the jacket.

"Fine with me. If it gets to that point, then we'll just start trading the jacket whenever one of us gets cold." Ace said as he let go of the jacket and watched Hikari put it on and zip it up.

Ace looked back at the path that they had already walked and then looked at how much that was still in front of them that he could see. They still probably had at least a fairly good size walk ahead of them, but he was prepared for it. "Hikari, if you're ready then let's get back to trying to get out of here." Ace said.

Hikari nodded a little. "I'm ready. Let's go." Hikari said as she got back up on her feet and helped Ace back up and felt his right arm rest around her neck as she put her left arm around Ace's waist to help steady him. And once again, they continued their slow journey through the dark and cold caves, searching for a way back to the surface.

After a few more hours, Ace and Hikari were still wandering through the caves, still searching for a way out. The two of them both felt like they would probably collapse soon from the exhaustion.

Ace had already begun grimacing even worse from his injuries because even with Hikari's help, the journey through the caves hadn't helped his injuries one little bit. He continued to watch ahead of them as they continued walking. Suddenly, he caught sight of something that made him smile. "Hikari." Ace whispered.

"I know Ace. I see it too." Hikari whispered back as she saw what Ace saw.

Only a short distance in front of them was a bright light that blinded them for just a moment, but then they could make out the all-too familiar desert that lay beyond the light.

Ace felt Hikari take a few more steps toward the exit, but he shook his head. "Hikari, please stop for a second, okay?" Ace asked.

Hikari nodded a little. "Sure, but why?" Hikari asked as she stopped walking but continued to help support Ace.

"I just want to say something right quick. It's something that I've been thinking about the entire time that we've been walking and I've been trying to decide whether to say it or not." Ace said as he glanced over at Hikari's eyes and stared into them for just a moment. "I really care about you...I've done everything in my power to help you in any way that I could since I first laid eyes on you..." He said as he stopped for just a second. _'Can I really say this right now? What the heck am I trying to do anyway? After everything that she's been through...If I finish saying that, what will she think? And what about that other girl, Sarah? I still can't remember very much, but still...'_ He thought as he struggled with his thoughts. "...Hikari, I love you..." He finished as he looked away from Hikari's eyes. He couldn't believe what he had just said.

Hikari looked shock for a moment. "A—Ace..." Hikari stuttered before the shock began to fade away from her face and her facial features began to grow soft again. "...Ace, I—I love you too." She said as she looked down at the ground. She couldn't believe the words that she had just said. Less than twenty-four hours earlier, she would never have been able to say those three fateful words to anybody, not even to Ace.

As Ace heard the words spoken by Hikari, he looked back at her only to notice that she was looking down at the ground. "Hikari, please look at me." Ace pleaded as he saw Hikari look back up at him, her dark blue eyes connecting and staring into his grayish blue ones. "I'm sorry if I might have said it kind of suddenly, but I really mean it." He said.

Hikari shook her head and smiled at Ace. "I know that you mean it. You always mean what you say. And don't be sorry about it being sudden. Dain told me back when your arm got hurt really bad and you were unconscious, that you really cared about me and that was the reason why you were always trying to help me." Hikari said as a slight sparkle of happiness began to appear in her oceanic eyes. "And that's why I said that I loved you too Ace. You've done so much for me over the past few months. I know that's not a very long time, but still...in just those few months, you've helped me more than Dain did in the last couple of years." She finished as her eyes continued to ever so slightly sparkle for the first time in a long time.

Ace smiled back as he heard what Hikari said and saw the sparkle in her eyes. "Hikari, don't give me so much of the credit. Dain might not have done a lot to help you, but I think that was because he was scared of hurting you worse by trying to help. And you definitely need to give yourself credit. I just helped you take the first step and then walked alongside you as you took more and more steps by yourself." Ace said.

Hikari sighed a little, but continued smiling. "Fine, but I'm still giving you most of the credit though." Hikari said as she looked up at the exit that only lay a short distance ahead of them.

Ace laughed a little as he heard what Hikari said. "Okay okay. I'll take most of the credit." Ace said as he noticed Hikari looking at the exit that was still only a short distance ahead. "Ready for the last leg of the journey?" He asked. He was glad that they would be hopefully back at the camp pretty soon because there was no way that his body would be able to handle much more before it collapsed from exhaustion.

Hikari nodded. "Yeah, let's go." Hikari said as the two of them resumed walking towards the exit once again.

After a few minutes of walking they finally stepped out of the exit and into the hot and bright desert. They both squinted as they tried to get back used to seeing daylight after spending the last several hours down in the dark tunnels.

Ace blinked a couple of times, letting his eyes get back used to sunlight while looking around for any sign of the camp. He noticed that even though it seemed really bright just a few seconds ago, the sun was already setting. He began to smile after a second. "Look, there's the camp." Ace said as he continued staring straight ahead.

Hikari smiled as well. "I see it. Straight ahead." Hikari said as they continued walking towards the camp and saw Dain standing at the entrance to the camp.

"There's Dain." Ace mentioned as he noticed that Hikari had seen him too. "Dain! Over here!" He yelled, trying to get Dain's attention.

Hikari heard Ace yelling and saw Dain notice them. She waved towards Dain with her free hand.

For the past several hours, Dain had been doing what he could along with the rest of the camp, to try to find and rescue Ace and Hikari but they had never had any luck. He had tried to get a few people down the crevice but it ended up being too deep and too hazardous to actually be able to make it to the bottom safely. They had tried a few other plans afterwards with no luck either. He had been just about to give up hope when he suddenly heard his name being shouted and saw Hikari and Ace making their way, slowly but surely, towards the camp. He let out a deep sigh of relief and waved back at Hikari as he began to make his way over to the two of them. "Are you two okay?" Dain asked as he got closer to the two of them, still stumbling towards camp.

Ace grimaced a little at a sudden shot of pain through his right foot, but then he heard Dain's question. "We're still alive. Hikari has some major bruises and some minor sprains and I've just got a couple of fractured bones at worst. Nothing that some simple rest won't heal." Ace said as he and Hikari looked at each other and laughed a little bit at just seeing how dirty both of them were from being in the caves so long.

Dain just looked at Ace first and then at Hikari. A lot of stuff had seriously happened in just the past several hours by the looks of it. It looked like he had a lot of catching up to do. He had a feeling that Ace was a lot more injured than he was acting like, but Hikari really did seem to just mainly be bruised and maybe a sprain or two like Ace had said. He also noticed that Hikari was wearing Ace's jacket and that from what he could tell; her t-shirt was blackened in places, probably from one of the Heartless' fire spells earlier. After a few more seconds, he even noticed about Hikari's hair being shorter and noticed that it only went down to the bottom of her neck and the tips were blackened somewhat so he guessed that the same spell that had burnt her shirt had also burnt her hair. But then, he noticed the biggest difference between several hours ago and now and he couldn't really believe his eyes. Hikari was letting Ace lean on her and was even helping to keep him steady. Ace had his right arm around her neck and she was holding him around the waist with her left to make sure that he didn't lose his balance. They were even acting like it wasn't anything unusual and was just like a normal routine or something.

Hikari noticed Dain looking both of them over. "Um yeah, I guess that we've got a lot of explaining to do later." Hikari said as she realized that she and Ace were still in the same position as they had been the entire trip back to the surface.

Ace realized the same thing as Hikari did almost at the same time and heard what she said. "Dain, let's just say that a lot happened and we'll talk about the details later." Ace said as he suddenly started feeling a little dizzy and suddenly collapsed, nearly causing Hikari to lose her balance.

Dain nodded a little. "Yeah, I really want to know about exactly what happened down in those underground caves. But first, let's get the both of you back to the medical tent." Dain said as he saw Ace suddenly fall and helped to catch him and stop Hikari from falling with Ace at the same time because of his unconscious body.

"Thanks for helping to catch him, Dain." Hikari said as the exhaustion started to catch up with her as well, but she tried to ignore it as much as she could.

"No problem. But like I said before, let's get you two back to the medical tent." Dain said as he noticed that Hikari seemed to be exhausted somewhat. "You've done enough. I'll carry Ace the rest of the way." He said as he leaned down and picked up Ace. He began to head over to the medical tent as quick as he could; occasionally glancing back over his shoulder to make sure that Hikari was keeping up and hadn't fainted yet.

After a few minutes, they finally reached the medical tent and rushed inside. Dain laid Ace down on the nearest bed and began to look for supplies. He saw Hikari walk in and sit down on a bed near Ace's and watch his sleeping form out of the corner of his eye. He finally found a couple of first aid kits and began to get what he needed out of each one as he looked over at Hikari and saw her still staring at Ace. "Hikari, he'll be okay just like last time. He's not going to die from those wounds." Dain said as he tried to figure out where to start considering all the injuries that Ace had sustained.

Hikari nodded and then smiled a little, still watching Ace. "I know." Hikari whispered as she finally felt the exhaustion coming back even worse and she felt herself drifting off into unconscious just like Ace had.

"Did you say something, Hikari?" Dain asked as he looked over at Hikari and noticed that she was so worn out that she actually fell asleep sitting on the bed. He walked over to Hikari and lay her already-asleep body down on the bed so that she could rest easier and then smiled a little as he saw a small smile on her lips. He looked back over at Ace for just a second. "I really don't know what happened between you two while you were alone for all that time, but whatever happened...I'm glad that it did happen." He said to both of them as he resumed working on Ace's injuries and also prepared to work on Hikari's injuries as soon as he finished with Ace's.


	9. Chapter 9 Realizations and Explanations

**Chapter 9**

**Realizations and Explanations:**

Ace grimaced somewhat in pain in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes. He looked around and noticed that he was lying on a bed in the medical tent. He did what he could to sit up on the bed and grunted in pain as he noticed that Dain must have already tended to his injuries earlier. The sling that his left arm was in had been replaced with a new one, his right foot had a splint around it while his left foot was just wrapped up in bandages, and he could feel bandages under his muscle shirt and jacket which he just realized that he was already wearing again. He looked over to his left and noticed Hikari sleeping on a bed near his. He noticed how peaceful and happy that she seemed to be in her sleep. He smiled a little as he saw Hikari smiling in her sleep. _'I know that I still don't have all my memories and I can't remember everyone from my past, but I'm sorry. I told Hikari that I couldn't move on because of my ties to my lost memories, but I'm moving on now. If I ever meet any of you in this life or the next, I hope that you can forgive me for moving on. Of course there's always the possibility that every single one of you has already given up on me anyway. I really don't know because I still don't know just how close I was to any of you. I love Hikari, it's as simple as that, and it's also my reason for wanting to move on.'_ Ace thought to himself as he felt the exhaustion coming back again, but not nearly as strong this time. He finally looked away from Hikari and lay back down on the bed and fell back asleep with a smile on his face.

As the morning rays of the sun slipped through the opening of the tent and inside it, Ace tried to squeeze his eyes shut as he felt the rays of light hitting his still closed eyes. After a few seconds, he gave up and slowly opened his eyes to see that he was still on the same bed in the medical tent as the last time that he woke up. He yawned a little and realized that it was morning. By the looks of it, he slept through the entire night. "Hikari?" Ace asked as he looked over at the bed where Hikari had been sleeping before, but he didn't see her this time. He grunted a little as he sat upright and slowly swung his legs off of the bed. He looked around but still couldn't find her or Dain. He slowly got off of the bed and tried standing. It hurt somewhat but it wasn't anything like yesterday. Both of his feet stung a lot, but he was fairly sure that he could walk as long as he put most of his weight on his left foot and not his right. He tried walking and after about almost an entire minute, he finally made it out of the medical tent. He looked around for a few seconds and saw Hikari walking towards him and medical tent, carrying two sandwiches and two bottles of water in her arms. He smiled and waved at her with his good arm.

Hikari saw Ace smiling and waving his arm, but she only smiled back because she couldn't wave because of the stuff in her arms. "Ace, you're finally awake." Hikari said as she finally reached Ace.

Ace yawned again a little. "Yeah, I just woke up less than a few minutes ago." Ace said as he noticed that Hikari's injuries had been tended to as well and that she had exchanged her burnt t-shirt from yesterday for a new white t-shirt that had blue streaks zigzagging across it.

"Okay. I've been up for probably about an hour already, mostly chatting with Dain about what happened yesterday after we fell into those underground caves." Hikari said as she stopped talking for a second as she remembered why she had come back to the medical tent anyway. "Here you go." She finished as she held out a water bottle and one of the sandwiches for Ace to take.

"So, did anything happen while we were gone?" Ace asked as he then noticed that Hikari was offering him one of the sandwiches and a bottle of water. "Thanks." He said as he lay the bottle of water down on a nearby crate and began to eat the sandwich.

Hikari took a few sips from her bottle of water and shook her head. "Not really, they finished off the remaining Heartless without any casualties and tried to find a way to rescue us without any luck until we actually made it back ourselves." Hikari said as she took a bite of her sandwich and swallowed it before smiling a little. "Don't mention it Ace. I had a feeling that you'd probably be hungry and thirsty whenever you woke up." She said.

Ace finished the sandwich and took a sip from his bottle. "That's good to hear. At least nobody else has died yet since then." Ace whispered a little, remembering what he had sworn in front of all of the fallen warriors' graves soon after he had been brought here. He smiled a little. "Well, I'm mentioning it anyway." He said as he gulped down some more water and looked up at the sun for just a moment.

Hikari heard Ace's whisper and remembered what he had said back at the funeral. "Yeah, somehow nobody's died since that day. I guess that we might have just gotten a lot stronger or maybe, you just became everybody's guardian angel after that day." Hikari said as she laughed a little.

Ace laughed a little as well. "Who knows? But, it doesn't really matter anyway. Everybody's still alive and that's all that matters." Ace said as he looked away from the sun and back towards Hikari. As he looked at Hikari, he remembered what he had told her yesterday in the caverns and the decision about his past that he had made to himself late last night. At that moment, something that Hikari had just said a few seconds ago finally clicked in his head. "You said that you've already been up for an hour or so and spent most of that time chatting with Dain about yesterday. You already told me what he said happened here while we were gone, but did you tell him what happened on our end yesterday? Everything that happened down in the caves?" He asked, even though he had a feeling that Hikari hadn't said anything to Dain about what happened yesterday yet.

Hikari shook her head and swallowed the last bite of her sandwich before she replied. "No, I haven't. I was going to wait until at least you finally woke up so that we could both tell him." Hikari said as she took a few sips from her bottle of water.

Ace smiled a little bit as he heard what Hikari said. "Well, I guess that we probably need to try to tell him fairly soon before he goes crazy trying to figure it out." Ace said as he laughed a little.

Hikari smiled and laughed a little bit. "You might be right. Dain does kind of have a problem when it comes to over thinking things." Hikari said as she finished drinking the last of the water left in the bottle and set it back down on a crate. "Ace, if you can walk then we'll head on over to where Dain is and tell him about yesterday, okay?" She asked.

Ace grinned a little. "It hurts, but I can walk without too much trouble. It's not really as bad as it looks." Ace said as he agreed that he was ready to explain to Dain about exactly what happened yesterday.

"Okay then, Dain's probably still at the main bunker where he was earlier." Hikari said as she started walking and Ace followed behind her, walking a little slower to try to keep from hurting his feet any worse.

"Hikari, about yesterday..." Ace began, breaking the silence that had lasted for the last several minutes even though he continued to keep on walking. "...you know, what happened back in the caves when we were only a few minutes away from the exit, um..." He continued before stopping again.

"Huh, what are you talking...." Hikari began as her eyes widened for just a moment as she realized what Ace was talking about. "Oh yeah...when we said that we loved each other..." She continued as she began to wonder why Ace was bringing that up right now.

Ace nodded. "Yeah, well, I've been thinking about that and I realized that I really didn't have a right to say those three words to you. We were both tired and considering your phobia, I shouldn't have said it." Ace said as he looked away for a second.

Hikari sighed a little, but then a small smile spread across her face. "Ace, we both know that you meant it when you said it before, that's why you did have a right to say those words. And I told you not to worry so much about my phobia. I haven't broke down crying or anything since you tried to protect me during the fall down the crevice even though we've touched each other since then. So don't look away, look at me, please." Hikari said.

As Ace heard Hikari's words, he looked back over at her with his grayish-blue eyes and saw the small smile on her lips. He smiled back a little after a moment. "Okay okay. I guess that you're right." Ace said, the smile still visible on his face as they continued walking.

Hikari's smile turned into a slight grin as she heard what Ace said. "Yep." Hikari said as she realized something. "When we tell Dain about what happened yesterday, do you think that we should mention about saying that we loved each other?" She asked as they continued walking towards the main bunker.

Ace thought about what Hikari asked him for a few seconds before he decided to respond. "Yeah, I think that we should. It's not something that we have to keep as a secret or anything." Ace said as he saw the main bunker only a short distance ahead. "Well, there's the main bunker that you said that Dain was at earlier." He said as they continued to walk towards it.

"Yeah, he should still be there." Hikari said as the two of them finally reached the bunker and went through the front entrance to get inside.

Ace looked around for a second after they stepped inside, but he didn't see anybody at first. After a few seconds of looking around, he finally saw Dain standing near one of the walls. "Hey Dain." Ace said.

Dain turned around as he heard his name called and saw Ace and Hikari standing in the room. "Hey you two." Dain said as he walked over to the two of them. "Do you two think that you could explain to me about exactly what happened yesterday? I've been wondering ever since I saw you two coming out of that cave yesterday evening." He asked as he saw the two of them nod.

"Sure." Ace said as he got ready to begin the story of what happened yesterday. "You saw us fall into that crevice during the battle yesterday. Well, the fall is what caused us to get all the injuries that we did. I, uh, tried to protect Hikari during the fall." He said as he stopped for a second.

"He did try to protect me as we were falling as good as he could. That's the only reason that I'm not dead or paralyzed or worse right now is thanks to Ace. After we took a few minutes to relax, I helped him up on his feet and I, uh, let him lean on me so that we could begin looking for an exit." Hikari said, looking over at Ace for just a second as she stopped talking.

"If she hadn't helped me through all those caves, then I would possibly still be stuck down there right now without any way out. We looked for an exit for a while and eventually it started getting colder, so I gave my jacket to Hikari and that's why she was wearing it when you saw us yesterday evening before we continued on our journey through the caves. When we finally found the exit, well, uh..." Ace said as he tried to say what happened but it wouldn't come out right.

"Yeah, like Ace said, right after we found the exit and saw that it was only a short distance away, well, we, uh..." Hikari said as she realized that she was in the same predicament as Ace and the words wouldn't come out right.

"...We said that we loved each other." The two of them suddenly blurted out at the same time after several seconds of complete silence. They both looked at each other after they said it and actually started laughing a little.

Dain listened without saying a word while Ace and Hikari told him the story of their journey yesterday, but he couldn't believe what he heard those two suddenly blurt out. He looked shocked for a second, but he hid it somewhat with a small smile on his face. "For some reason, I was starting to believe that you two would never admit it. I'm glad that you two finally admitted your feelings to each other and I'm glad that you two got so close while you tried to find your way out of those underground caves." Dain said, still smiling as he saw Ace and Hikari still laughing a little and smiling at the same time. He really was glad that the two of them finally admitted their feelings to each other. He was also glad that Hikari truly trusted Ace so much. He was still slightly jealous, but he knew that it was only because he had known Hikari longer than Ace did, but that didn't matter anymore.


	10. Chapter 10 Disappearance in the Castle

**Chapter 10**

**Disappearance in the Castle:**

It has been several months since Ace and Hikari's fateful plummet into the underground caves and subsequent revealing of their feelings to each other. In the time since that plummet, several things have changed for better or worse. Ace and Hikari's relationship has deepened somewhat and Hikari has completely overcome her phobia through Ace's efforts as well as her own. The injuries that the two of them both sustained have also mostly healed. Hikari's injuries, except for the scars that riddled her body under her clothes, healed pretty quickly since she didn't have any major injuries. Ace's injuries though took longer to heal because they were worse but they did heal eventually, even his left arm which he was finally able to get back to using. The Heartless have still attacked from time to time but each assault has been much weaker than the earlier ones and seem to have more down time between each one for everybody to sit back and relax for a little while.

"Hikari, can't you at least tell me where we're going?" Ace asked as he followed Hikari through the camp, still trying to figure out exactly what all this was about.

Hikari turned around for a second and grinned a little. "Sorry Ace, but I can't tell you anything. But, don't worry, I promise that you'll love it." Hikari said as she turned back around and continued walking.

Ace sighed a little to himself, but then smiled as he continued to keep up with Hikari. He couldn't believe how much had changed ever since that day when they had fallen into those underground caves. There had been a few rocky moments since then, but overall, he couldn't complain. Hikari had begun to open up not only to him, but to everyone after that day. Every time that he saw her, he couldn't help but smile when he saw the grin on her face that she had picked up as a habit from him. From time to time, his past still surfaced in his dreams but he had begun to push the memories away every time that they surfaced. He was keeping to the decision that he had made before and he was still as content as ever to just be around Hikari and everyone else here.

After a few more minutes, Ace and Hikari arrived in front of the main bunker and stopped. "We're here." Hikari said as she glanced back at Ace.

"The main bunker? Why here?" Ace asked as he saw Hikari open the door and head inside the pitch-black bunker. "Wait up for me." He said as he headed inside the bunker and began to feel his way around.

While Ace was trying to feel his way around, suddenly the lights came on and as Ace looked around, he couldn't believe what he saw. Everybody was standing around him and the entire bunker looked like it had been decorated for a party. "Wha-What's all this for?" Ace asked as he saw Hikari and Dain grinning at him.

"It's for you Ace." Dain said, still grinning.

"It's a party for you. It's been an entire year since the day that Dain found you out in the desert and since you met all of us." Hikari said.

"You guys...Thanks for all this, but you really didn't have to." Ace said, smiling as a few tears appeared in his eyes as he looked around again at all the smiling and grinning people.

Hikari shook her head. "We may not have had to throw you a party, but it was something that we wanted to do. You've done so much for us, and...and especially for me. We just wanted to repay you for everything." Hikari said.

Dain nodded as he heard what Hikari said. "Yeah Ace, she's right. Now, let's get this party started." Dain said as he grabbed a slice of cake from the table in the middle of the room and a drink from the same table.

Ace grinned a little. "Yeah, I guess that you're right, Hikari. And yeah, this is a celebration so let's enjoy ourselves." Ace said as he grabbed himself some cake and a drink as well.

After a few hours of partying, Ace and Hikari both collapsed onto one of the mats that had been placed all over the room before the party had begun and tried to catch their breath for a few seconds.

Hikari looked over at Ace after a few seconds and smiled. "Enjoying the party, Ace?" Hikari asked.

Ace smiled back a little and nodded. "Yeah, definitely." Ace said. He wasn't kidding; he really was enjoying the party.

Hikari's smile changed to a grin. "Well, let's get back to partying, okay?" Hikari asked as she looked up to see Dain walking towards them with a camera. "Dain, where did you find that camera at?" Hikari asked.

Dain shrugged a little. "It was hidden underneath some supplies that I was searching through earlier when we were getting ready for the party." Dain said. "I was thinking about maybe taking some pictures today so that no matter what might happen later on, we would always have mementos of today as well as memories." He said.

Ace listened to what Dain said and grinned a little as he turned towards Hikari. "Hikari, mind taking a picture with me?" Ace asked.

"Sure." Hikari said as she suddenly saw a bright flash of light for a second and shook her head a little to get rid of the bright spots in her eyes. She looked up at Dain and saw him releasing the shutter button on the camera and saw a photograph slide out of it. "We weren't ready yet, Dain." She said, rubbing her eyes a little to get rid of the last of the stubborn bright spots.

"Sorry, but it did turn out great. Look at it for yourself." Dain said as he took a look at the photograph before he handed it over to Ace and Hikari to look at.

Ace looked at the picture and smiled a little to himself. In the picture, Hikari and him were looking at each other and were leaning almost completely against each other. "Yeah, Dain's right. It does look great." Ace said as he held out the picture for Hikari to take. "Here you go, you can have it." He said.

Hikari nodded. "Yeah, it really does look great." Hikari agreed as she saw Ace hold out the picture for her to take. "Sure, it'll be like a memento like Dain said." She said as she took the picture from Ace's hand and smiled a little before she slipped the photo into her jean pocket. "Well, like I said earlier, let's get back to partying." She said as she started to stand up on the mat. As she started to stand up, her foot suddenly slipped on the mat and she suddenly lost her balance, crying out in surprise.

Ace jumped up as quickly as he could when he saw Hikari lose her balance. He caught her, but then he slipped as well and they collapsed to the floor in a crumpled heap. "Ouch." Ace said as he grunted a little and noticed that Hikari had fallen on top of him. "Well, at least this time didn't hurt nearly as much as that fall into the underground caves all those months ago did." He said, smiling and laughing a little.

Hikari blushed a little at the way that they landed and then started laughing and smiling as well. "Yeah, I guess so. Sorry for slipping though." Hikari said as she saw another flash of light. "Dain, we definitely weren't ready that time." She said as she saw Dain taking another picture out of the camera and smiling.

"Just like last time, I'm sorry, but this one really did turn out great." Dain said as he waited until Ace and Hikari had untangled themselves from each other and could sit back down on the mat again before he gave the picture to the two of them.

Ace held up the picture somewhat so that both he and Hikari could get a good look at it. He smiled a little after a few seconds and heard Hikari giggle a little beside him. In the picture, the two of them were still laying on the floor, Hikari on top of him somewhat and all their limbs tangled up in each other while they both smiled and laughed at what had happened.

Hikari finally stopped giggling after a few seconds and looked over at Ace before she held out the photo to him. "Here, since you gave me the other one, this one can be your memento." Hikari said, smiling a little as she continued to hold the photo out for Ace to grab.

Ace nodded and smiled back at Hikari. "Sure." Ace said as he took the picture from Hikari's hand and placed it in one of the pockets on his windbreaker jacket.

"Well, since you two have your mementos, I think that it's about time for the rest of us to get ours too." Dain said as he smiled a little and motioned for everybody to sit down near Ace and Hikari so that he could take a group shot of everyone. He set the camera to automatically take a picture in about 10 seconds before he set it down on a small box so that it was facing everybody. He ran over to where everybody was and quickly took a seat beside Ace and Hikari as everybody smiled for the camera.

After the flash went off, everybody began to get back up from the floor and Dain went over to the camera to take the picture out. He grabbed the photograph from the camera and smiled a little as he looked at it for a moment. "Everybody, come and take a look." Dain said as he held the photo up so that everybody could see it.

"It's perfect." Ace said as he realized that the way that everybody was seated in the picture made it look like he and Hikari were the center of attention or something like that.

"Just like Ace said: it's perfect. But, where are we going to put it?" Hikari asked as she smiled a little after seeing the picture.

"Well, right now I still don't really have a clue." Dain said as he placed the photograph on a table that was off to the side. "Ace and Hikari, can you two come with me for a second?" He asked as he saw the two of them nod and walk up to him. "We'll be back soon. All of you, try to clean the mess up if you don't mind, we'll hopefully need all the extra room by the time that we get back." Dain said as he walked outside the bunker, followed by Ace and Hikari.

As soon as they got outside of the bunker, Ace stopped in his tracks and looked over at Dain. "So, why'd you need us to come out here?" Ace asked.

"I just need some help with something, that's all. I couldn't sleep last night so I decided to explore a few parts of the desert that we haven't got around to exploring yet. While I was out exploring, I came across an old castle that was filled with tons of supplies. We're not exactly running low on supplies yet, but I thought that it might be a good idea to go ahead and get as much as we could. And as for why I need you two, well let's just say that I mainly want to check out the rest of that castle with just a small search group before I send everybody in to start grabbing supplies. It's not as if I don't trust everybody else around here, I just trust you two more among other things." Dain said as he waited and wondered if Ace and Hikari would actually agree to help him with the search.

Ace listened to what Dain said and then looked over towards Hikari and saw her nod. He smiled a little as he turned back towards Dain. "Sure, we'll go with you. We don't have anything better to do right now and besides, we'll need the supplies eventually anyway." Ace said.

"Thanks, you two." Dain said as he led them out of the camp and headed towards the old castle that he had discovered the night before.

After about thirty minutes of walking they finally reached the entrance to an old gothic style castle. "Is this the castle that you were talking about?" Hikari asked.

Dain nodded a little. "Yeah, it is." He said as he walked up the steps to the front door and stopped. "You two ready?" He asked even though he saw the two of them both walking towards him and the door.

"Of course." Ace said as he and Hikari reached the door and helped Dain open it.

After they got the door open, they walked inside and glanced around at the inside of the castle around them. The floor was made up of faded marble, the walls were a deep crimson even though the color had faded somewhat, and multiple glass chandeliers hung from the ceiling, which seemed to be made from the same wood as the walls. Even though the room was covered in spider webs, the room still seemed to shimmer somewhat from the light coming in through the windows and there was furniture visible in multiple places throughout the room.

"Wow." Ace whispered under his breath as he continued to look around the room.

"I know. I'm thinking about maybe moving everything from the camp to this castle eventually, but who knows if that'll ever happen." Dain said as he walked over to a spiral staircase. "Come on. The supplies are on the second floor." He said as he waited for Ace and Hikari at the bottom of the staircase.

"And in the meantime, we could just split everything between the camp and this castle, right?" Hikari asked as her and Ace walked up to the staircase and began to ascend it along with Dain.

Dain seemed to think about what Hikari said for a few seconds. "Yeah, actually that might be a good idea. If we split everything between the camp and this castle, then if something ever happens to one, we'll have the other one as a backup. When we get back, I'll talk it over with everybody else to see what they think about it and then we'll decide." Dain said as they continued to ascend the upward along the spiraling staircase.

"So, this is where the supplies are?" Ace asked as they stepped off of the staircase and onto the second floor, which was a hallway with multiple doors on both sides.

Dain nodded. "Yeah, this floor used to be a storage floor or something. Clothing, food, medical equipment, among other things are behind each of those doors." Dain said.

"This entire floor?" Ace asked as he saw Dain nod again. He then looked up at the ceiling for just a short moment as he thought that he heard something. "I'll be back in a second. I'm going to go and check out the third floor right quick and then I'll be right back." He said as he saw Hikari shake her head.

"Ace, if you're going, then we're both going to go with you." Hikari said.

Ace smiled a little as he shook his head. "Hikari, don't worry. I'll be all right. Besides, you and Dain can go ahead and start seeing what supplies we need the most or whatever. And if I get in trouble or something, I'll yell for help, okay?" Ace asked as he looked Hikari in the eyes for a moment.

Hikari shook her head for just a moment, but then she started to smile a little. "Okay fine. But, at the first hint of trouble, start yelling, don't wait." Hikari said.

Ace nodded his head. "I will, don't worry." Ace said as he started walking up the staircase, headed for the third floor. _'I'm almost certain that I heard something, but well, even if I didn't actually hear anything, at least I'll get a chance to look around some more.' _He thought to himself as he continued climbing the staircase and finally stopped at the third floor. He looked around and noticed that the entire floor seemed to be a huge library or study or something like that. He walked around for a short while, glancing at the books on all of the bookcases. After a few minutes of walking, he stopped in front of a large desk that was covered in papers and books. He shrugged a little as he began to walk past the desk, but then stopped as something glittered at the corner of his eye. He turned around to get a better view and saw something glittering among the piles of papers and books. He sat down at the desk for a second and pushed a few piles of papers and books around until he found what was glittering beforehand and grabbed it to get a better look.

Ace stood up from the desk and a small smile crossed his face as he realized what the object was. It was an ornate necklace that was designed in the shape of an angel with six outstretched wings that held a small orb inlaid with a deep blue jewel that matched Hikari's eyes perfectly and seemed to shine with an inner light. "I've got to remember to give this to Hikari when I go back downstairs. She'd definitely love it." He whispered to himself as he placed the necklace in one of his jean pockets.

At that exact moment, several rows of books behind Ace fell off of their shelves and onto the floor followed quickly by several more. "Wha-What's that? Who's there?" Ace asked, summoning Blazing Angel to his hand as he turned around to see what had happened. He quickly looked everywhere around him but he couldn't find whatever had caused those books to fall off of their shelves. He kept his grip on the keyblade as he began to walk around the library, searching for whatever had caused all of those books to fall off of their shelves. After a few minutes of looking around, he relaxed his grip on Blazing Angel somewhat and glanced around the library one more time. "I guess that whatever caused those books to fall already left. I can't find anything around here that could have caused something like that....But, if it already left and went back down the staircase...Crap." He muttered under his breath as he rushed back over to the staircase and looked down. He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see anything running down the staircase nor hear the sounds of a struggle. "Thank goodness. It doesn't look like it went back downstairs, but if it didn't go down there...where did it go?" He wondered to himself as he took a few steps and then suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Wait...It couldn't be...But, it can't be anywhere else but there." He muttered as he slowly gripped Blazing Angel with both hands as he looked straight up at the ceiling above him and his eyes widened for just a moment. "Heartless." He whispered as he saw the creature lunge down at him. He rolled out of the way of the Heartless' first strike and sent it flying back into a bookcase. He breathed out a sigh of relief as he saw that the Heartless wasn't moving, but then he suddenly let out a piercing yell as he felt something pierce completely through his lower left leg.

Down on the second floor of the castle, Hikari dropped the supplies that she had been holding in her arms as she heard Ace scream from the floor above them. "Ace!" Hikari screamed as she realized that Ace had to be in trouble as she remembered what he said right before he left. She turned around and looked at Dain. "Dain, come on! Something bad had to have happened for him to scream like that." Hikari said as she began to rush up the spiral staircase as quick as she could, not even looking back to see if Dain was following her.

Almost as soon as Hikari had reached the third floor, Dain caught up to her and stood right next to her at the entrance of the huge library that encompassed the entire third floor. "I don't know what caused Ace to yell like he did, but I guess that we're about to find out." Dain said as he and Hikari both summoned their keyblades to their hands and rushed into the library itself.

Hikari suddenly stopped in her tracks as she saw what had caused Ace to yell like he did. It was a Heartless, but it seemed different than the ones that had always been attacking them. Its limbs stretched across the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling and it's actual body seemed to be mostly composed of a mass of tentacles with two yellow eyes in the very center. She looked around, but she didn't Ace anywhere in sight. A few tears leaked out of her eyes. He couldn't be dead, could he?

"Hikari! Dain! Thank goodness you two finally got here, I could use some help." Ace said, smiling a little, as he slowly got back up on his feet from where he had been knocked down behind a bookcase.

Hikari looked up as she heard what Ace said and smiled before she saw his injuries. Ace had a gaping hole that was about the size of one of those tentacles through his lower left leg which was gushing out blood, his right eye was completely covered in blood that was coming from a gash on his forehead, and his left hand was twisted so much that it was a surprise that it hadn't snapped yet. He had to be in a lot of pain, but he was still smiling. "Ace..." Hikari muttered after a few seconds of complete silence.

Ace grinned a little. "Don't worry about me right now. I'll be fine, it's not nearly as bad as it looks." Ace said as he used his good hand, in which he was still wielding his keyblade, to try to wipe a little of the blood off from his right eye but just ended up smearing the blood even worse. He suddenly stopped grinning as he saw something behind Hikari. "Hikari, move!" He yelled as he realized what was behind Hikari.

Hikari tried to smile back at Ace a little, but she knew that he was lying about the pain. "Wha-" Hikari began as she followed Ace's warning and jumped a little to the right. She glanced back over at her left and saw a tentacle pierce the area where her head had been less than two seconds ago. She breathed out a sigh of relief but then she felt one of the tentacles wrap itself around her foot. She was about to scream when she saw Dain slice through the tentacle with his keyblade. "Thanks." She said as she saw him nod and look back up at the Heartless. She looked up at the Heartless for just a moment and then looked over at Ace. "Ace, let Dain and me be your guardian angels for once, okay? You've been ours for long enough already." She said as she brought her keyblade in front of her.

"Hikari..." Ace whispered as he heard what she said. He smiled a little as he realized just how much of a difference there was between when Dain first found him out in the desert and now, all these months later. After a second or two, his smile faded away and he shook his head somewhat. "Hikari, you and Dain can be my guardian angels, I don't mind at all. But, if you guys are my guardian angels, then who's going to guard and protect you two? I know that I'm injured and hurt, but I can still fight, maybe not at full strength, but I'm not completely out yet. I'll fight alongside you two so that all three of us will be protected. All three of us will be each other's guardian angel." He said as he struggled to stand up completely, but finally made it and pointed his keyblade at the Heartless.

Dain walked up beside Ace and pointed his keyblade at the Heartless as well. "Ace, sometimes you can be really stubborn, but fine. If you want to join in on the fight, go ahead. Three against one sounds better than two against one." Dain said.

After Hikari saw Dain walk up beside Ace, she walked up to Ace's other side and pointed her keyblade at the Heartless as well. "Dain's right. You really are stubborn sometimes, but that's what makes you such a great friend. You always think of everyone else first and try to protect the rest of us." Hikari said.

And with those words, the three keybladers – Ace, Hikari, and Dain charged into battle against this new kind of Heartless that could strike from almost anywhere in the vicinity thanks to its multitude of tentacles. The three of them were able to work as a perfect team, from watching each other's backs for possible tentacle attacks to luring tentacles out and slicing them into pieces.

As the battle neared the end, most of the Heartless' tentacles had already been sliced off and only a few remained. While each of them concentrated on the few remaining tentacles, nobody noticed that one tentacle had begun to wrap itself around Ace until it was too late. "Wha-" Ace began as he felt himself being flung through the air, but not before he tossed his keyblade like a lance towards the center of the mass of tentacle where two yellow eyes were glowing. He then felt his back crash against a window that was behind him and felt the glass shatter as his body was tossed out the window.

Hikari saw Ace crash against the window and then saw the glass shatter. "Ace!" Hikari screamed as she ran towards the window and looked down, but not matter how hard she looked, she couldn't see his body anywhere.

Dain almost rushed over to the window when Hikari did, following Ace's fall, but something caught his eye. He saw Ace's keyblade sticking out of the Heartless as the creature disappeared into a black mist like it always did, but that wasn't what had caught his eye. He saw Ace's keyblade disappear in a burst of light. Usually when a person died, the keyblade remained. Maybe that fall didn't kill Ace after all.

Back at the window Hikari was still looking for any sign of Ace but she couldn't see him anywhere below. There was no way that he had fallen somewhere that she couldn't see. All that was below the window was desert sand and the smooth wall of the castle. Even though she wanted to hope that Ace wasn't dead just because she couldn't see his body, she couldn't bring herself to believe in that small hope. "Ace...Ace...Why'd this have to happen? I should have been more stubborn. I should have made you agree not to fight alongside us and go back down to at least the second floor. That way, maybe you wouldn't have got yourself killed. We could have taken that Heartless down without needing your help. You could have just stayed on the sideline where you wouldn't have got yourself killed, at least not like that. Just why...why, did this happen? Everything that we've been through this past year, all the times that you've been there for me and even those few times that I was able to pay you back for everything that you did for me. It just can't end like this." Hikari whispered as tears began to gush out of her eyes and she slumped down against the wall, crying and weeping.

* * *

AN: For those who have been reading this story all the way up until now, I'd just like to thank each and every one of you. For all those wondering, the story's just about over. Ace's journey has almost come to an end and he will have to make a final decision that will change his life for good. There's only four chapters total left--two separate endings. The next two chapters are going to be ending A and the seconds set are going to be ending B. The two endings are both meant to be thought of as what-ifs because they are both possible endings depending on Ace's choice. Either ending can be considered canon and I'm going to leave the final decision as to which one is canon and which one isn't up to each and every one of you. I'm planning on adding a poll to my profile page soon so that I can hopefully get a general idea of which ending is the preferred one. By the way, I'd definitely like to see reviews about the two different endings--what you liked/disliked about both, which one you prefer, your reasons, etc. And once again, thanks to all of you for continuing to read this story. I know that this story definitely isn't one of the best out there, but it's something that I put a lot of hard work in and I'm proud to have been able to chronicle Ace's struggles throughout his journey as well as his life.


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